Halloweek 2018 - The Storyline
by Ziegelzeig
Summary: Follow the adventures of a fellow Demons Hunters and of Demon Fox, forced to associate their powers to fight against the Seven Calamities who cursed the region of Hallow. This story is linked to the edition 2018 of the Halloweek event. Discover more about it on OceRydia and Ziegelzeig respective Deviantart's pages.
1. Introduction - The Last Pact

**Introduction – The last Pact**

* * *

An icy wind made the bunny's black cloak waved as she squeezed through the shadows of the crypt. She ran down the stairs at full speed, in a dead silence, the metal parts of her equipment not emitting the slightest sound. Her mastery of silent movement was worthy of Hallow's greatest assassins. But she wasn't an ordinary slayer, selling her blade to the highest bidder. This bunny had dedicated herself to a sacred mission that was pursued by all the members of her secular order; The Demons Hunters.

The fulfillment of this primordial task, which kept Hallow's accursed land in an ephemeral ray of blessing light, had led her today to hunt down one of her oldest enemies. She would never have thought seeing this filthy creature again, but despite the distress she felt when she realized that he had returned from the demonic worlds, she could not restrain an uncontrollable smile at the thought of confronting him again.

She came out into the vault, and the smell of blood mixed with death struck her nostrils. Although the darkness prevented her from clearly seeing the extent of the carnage, she easily distinguished the dozen dead bodies, which were bathed in their own, still hot, organs. On the wall, vaguely reflected by the dying glow of a pale moon, the bunny was able to guess the impious features of the ritual pentacle that had been traced by the partisans of the Black Mass. Their dismembered bodies now lay on the ground.

They had deserved their fate.

Because of their madness, Hallow's country was facing an additional danger, not least.

A familiar shiver ran down her spine, and her creamy fur bristled under her clothes. Without losing a second, she turned around, unsheathing her wrought silver combat blade. The only metal able to defeat Evil.

An obscure, ancient laugh, echoed from the darkest alcove of the underground crypt. The bunny frowned and stood ready. Her prey had not left the place.

"I'm going to have to send you back to your infernal burrow. Once again." She said on a firm, but amused, tone.

"Ah, don't try to deny that you're happy to see me again ..." answered the cavernous and guttural voice of the demon, still lurking in the shadows.

"I would not have killed you if I wanted to see you again."

"We would not have this discussion if you had been able to."

"I thought that would be enough last time ..." retorted the Hunter.

"Oh, considering the result ... I think you didn't put all your ... Heart! "

As he uttered this word, a flame of burning brilliance suddenly illuminated the bottom of the crypt, revealing two long horns as black as coal. They sprang from the sickly skull of a filthy-looking fox who scanned the bunny with an expression whose wickedness was only matched by malice. His skinny but muscular body was shapeless; his arms far too long ending in huge, clawed paws, still dripping with the warm blood of the cultists who had the misfortune to invoke him. From his vaulted back slowly spread two broad membranous wings, torn and damaged by time and centuries of fights. From his horns strangely flowed a black fluid similar to tar, which streamed down his face, and disappeared under the thick red scarf surrounding the ruffled fur of his neck. The flaming glow that revealed this demonic apparition sprang from the hearth of an unhealthy flame, burning between his two horns, floating in the air like a playful will-o'-the-wisp.

The demon pushed aside the fall of red cloth composing his scarf and hiding his bare chest. A gaping hole could be seen instead of his heart, whose hemorrhage of black blood seemed to never stop.

"You have something that belongs to me, I think... Isn't it, Oce?" The demon winced, displaying a cruel expression of predation. "I know it's here. I can feel it beat. You can't hide it from me "

"If I had intended to do so, I would not have taken it with me today." Retorted the so-called Oce.

Her gestures accompanying her speech, she lifted her black cloak to reveal a scarlet box hanging from her belt. An unhealthy and throbbing vibration emanated from it. The bunny stared the fox-demon, and offered him a smirk.

The greed that began to burn in the creature's eyes was even hotter than the flame that lit up his facial features.

"You came to give it to me as a gift?" The demon quipped, trying to hide his confusion. "Do not think I'll forgive you or spare you, even if you give it to me of your own will ..."

"I thought you knew me better than that… Your sense of humor hasn't improved in six years. "

"If I remember correctly, it wasn't my humor that you liked the most, even at that time. As for what you hold, I don't think I've offered it to you... "

"I know it well." The bunny retorted. "That's why I didn't hesitate to take it by force. "

"Ah, what a mistake." The demon replied, tightening his fangs in the form of a macabre smile. "You should have pierced it when you had the opportunity. Now, it's my turn to make some holes in your chest."

Having dropped these words, the demonic creature spread his wings, threw his immense claws out of his fingers, and rushed on his prey in a supernatural movement.

But it wasn't the Hunter's first fight. With a clever gesture of her blade, she parried the mortal blow which was destined to her, and went on a roll to get out of reach of the charge of her adversary. Without waiting for him to regain his balance, she jumped on his back, sword deployed, launching a precise blow in direction of his neck. But the demon had not said his last word. Anticipating the assault of the Hunter, he swept the space between them with a brutal blow of his tail, soft and silky in appearance, ending with a white tip of false purity, and which hide an unexpected strength.

Oce was thrown back and hit the wall of the crypt violently before falling back to the ground, immediately recovering to a fighting position.

The devil did volte-face, a burning fire flooding his arms, and flowing to his clenched fists like two fiery braziers.

"So what are you waiting for?" The demon finally let go, strangely surprised. "Pierce it, if you want to get out of it. Otherwise, I guarantee you, there will be nothing left of you but ashes ... You know how much I like to play with fire. "

"I have something else in mind ..."

The flames that covered his arms shorten to the point of disappearing completely, and he walked towards her with a mocking and somewhat vicious air.

"Are you sure you want to go in that direction ...? He coughed slyly.

"I don't think we have the same thing in mind." She countered, while putting her paw against the red box, which had the immediate effect of stopping the fox's confident approach, who stopped a few feet from her.

"In that case, tell me your thoughts." The demon replied, crossing his long arms over his chest and taking a falsely interested look.

"I think your flames would be much more useful if I put them to my service."

"You want to make a deal with me? With a demon?" The fox laughed. "No kidding ? It's the best joke I've ever heard!"

With a theatrical movement of the arm, he pointed the lifeless bodies that were lying at their feet.

"Did you see what happened to the last morons who tried to make a deal with me? You should think twice about it. "

"These fools didn't have that in their possession." retorted Oce, tightening her paw on the metal edge of the scarlet box, which literally vibrated under her fingers. "That being said, they deserved their fate. I have no intention of avenging this vermin."

"They will at least have allowed this little meeting. I must admit that the world of mortals had missed me ..." he said with detachment, his eyes lingering more than needed on her.

"Hallow, on the other hand, didn't regret you at all. There are too many of your kind who are still corrupting this land ..."

The fox frowned at the mention of his peers. A shadow instilled in his eyes.

"Keep going… "

"I know you hate them at least as much as I do. So here is what I propose to you: your heart against their death. Isn't it tempting, Zieg? "

"Except that I don't trust you at all." the demon grumbled.

"That makes us at least one thing in common." retorted the Hunter.

The fox advanced slowly towards her, without hostility, before leaning to her level, stopping his snout a few inches from hers.

"Deal."


	2. The Little Kitten and the Big Bad Wolf

**Chapter One : The Little Kitten and the Big Bad Wolf**

* * *

The cold wind of the moor swept away the dusty fur of the fox, who tasted for the first time the invigorating air of the outside, after six long years of banishment in the Underealms, where those of his kind were languishing when the Hunters managed to banish them from Hallow's land. A gust of wind blew into the hollow that pierced his chest, creating a hissing air that caught the attention of the bunny, who was standing a few feet behind him. At the sight of the mutilation that pierced his back, she could not help but look away...

Zieg turned a placid face towards the Hunter. No malice was visible, and he had undone his usual carnivorous smile.

"Where are we?" He asked in a dry voice. "I'm afraid I don't recognize this place ..."

"You already know the answer, don't you? "

"Let's say I feared it ..."

Once again, the demon let his gaze get lost on the gloomy environment around him. As far as the eye could see, there were only arid plains with soils blackened by acid rain. Desolate mounds still presented the substitutes of old wooded forests, burned for years, and of which only remained decimated and charred trunks. The sky darkened by thick clouds, black in the middle of the night, added even more to the impression of desolation that emanated from this region.

"Nothing will grow here anymore." Zieg said bitterly. "Centuries of work reduced to ashes ... And why? "

Letting go of those words, he turned to look at Oce, a gleam of fury burning in his eyes.

"We could not take the risk of leaving intact a region that had been corrupted by your presence..."

At this answer, which was released in a tone as firm as it was cold, Zieg replied with a scornful throat.

"Fear the fearful spells of the trees, of the vast flower plains and innocent animals! It must have been a terrible danger. "

"It was growing plants that we had never seen elsewhere ..."

"Ah really? So you worry about the danger of innocent little flowers?" Retorted the demon, turning back to the dead landscape. "Look what you did here. You have forever destroyed the potential of this land. A whole region slaughtered for your stupid dogmas. "

"What can this do to you?" The bunny countered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Since when do demons care about flowers anyway? "

"Some of them were important to me!" Shouted the demon, turning fiercely to her, eyes bulging and wings spread. A massive stream of black liquid streamed down her horns and flooded his face.

The bunny adopted a defensive posture, one paw on the guard of her sword, the other tightened on the box containing the heart of his opponent. So the message was clear.

Zieg sat up, taking a more relaxed stance.

"It's nothing but the past ..." he grumbled. "It doesn't matter anymore. "

The insistent look of the rabbit, who remained suspicious, tried to encourage him to continue his explanations, but the demon merely turned away his eyes.

"What are you expecting from me exactly?" He asked disinterestedly. "Who should I kill first to satisfy you and recover my heart? "

"A brutal beast has devastated the Outside Country for too long now. I organized a meeting with one of my colleagues, who has been tracking this creature for months. Let's join him first and then we'll advise. "

"A brutal beast?" Zieg said. "I hope it's not the one I'm thinking about ..."

* * *

A glittering blade came down against the throat of the demon fox when he stepped through the isolated cabin where Oce had led him, to the edge of the misty woods that occupied the North of the Outside Country.

At the end of the sword, maintaining the guard firmly, stood a boreal lynx with an expression filled with hatred. The tiredness that drew his features didn't seem able to affect his concentration. He wore an armor of silver plates, outfit of the senior officers of the Demon Hunter, but from an older generation ... Yet it seemed like new, evidence that its owner was taking great care of it, and for many years. And for his own person, however, a decade of stalking had left its mark on both his fur and his flesh.

"All sweet, kitten…" Zieg said with a predatory smile. The burning fire between his horns seemed to have intensified.

"That is the help you offered to bring me back, Oce?" Shouted the lynx. "It's a joke? "

"The enemy of our enemy may be useful, Thomas ..." the bunny calmly replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Useful?" Said Thomas, dryly. "But he's one of them, too! "

"And you can always try to kill me once you are done with your little friend ..." cut the demon.

Oce nudged him gently to make him change his tone.

"You don't help me, fox." She commented.

"I said that I will fight the targets that you would tell me, not that I would make friends with little cats who think they are Hunters. "

Thomas uttered a disdainful sneer before removing his blade.

"I hope his claws are as sharp as his tongue." the Hunter commented while Oce looked away, somewhat embarrassed.

"For sure, she knows a thing or two about it." the fox concluded, nudging his partner, who merely replied with a stare as piercing as the crossbow bolts in the quiver on Thomas's back.

Cutting short the ridiculous excesses of the conversation, Oce stepped into the room, joining her brother of arms at the large wooden table that occupied almost the entire space. On it was a map of the region, daubed with notes and acronyms, scribbled in black ink.

"I cornered him in these woods ... The Grove of Mists…" Thomas commented.

"He likes to play hide-and-seek, the little rascal." said Zieg, leaning on the map too, his tall stature largely dominating the two other mammals present. "What is his little name? "

"The Scourge Samael."

Zieg froze on the spot, his smirking smile stuck on his face.

"He's not unknown to you, right?" Oce asked.

* * *

"I don't care about this bullshit, I'd rather prefer you send me back to Hell !" The fox bawled, trying to get rid of the solid grip that Oce kept on his tail to keep him from running away.

"Stop pulling so hard. Otherwise, you'll just have a stump left as a tail!"

Totally ignoring this pathetic spectacle, Thomas finished the preparing of his equipment in front of the cabin, his gaze already staring at the edge of the wild forest. Zieg's vehement vociferations, which had not stopped for nearly five minutes, attracted his attention again. Apparently, the fox had stopped trying to flee and had reasoned. He stood, slightly sheepish, his tail between his paws, trying to put his coat back in order.

"You hurt me ..." he commented sulkily.

"Oh, poor little thing, do you want a magic kiss?" The bunny asked sheepishly, her paws on her hips, looking for her interlocutor.

"If you have finished your antics, I suggest that we start the hunt," Thomas interrupted, pulling up the shoulder strap that held his silver nitrate grenades at the waistband of his breastplate.

Without waiting for their answer, he opened the march, immediately followed by his two companions of misfortune.

"So, you've been tracking the big bad wolf for a long time, haven't you?" Zieg questioned distractedly. "I know he slaughtered your little gang after decades of torture that you caused to him. "

Thomas walled himself in dead silence, preferring to focus on his track.

The lack of response from his interlocutor didn't stop the fox demon.

"No wonder he has become even more mumbled than before. You broke the little bit of spirit he still had, making him the filthy monster he's today. Once again, your dogma has worsened the situation you thought you should improve." He turned his red and mischievous eyes towards Oce, offering her his most charming smile. "It remembers you something, bunny? Flowers, and this kind of stuff? Now try to grow carrots in the field of ashes that your stupid father-in-law had erected instead of the land I was responsible for! "

"You're going to shut up, yes?" The lynx replied, visibly irritated.

"Did I touch a sore spot?" Zieg quipped, returning his attention to the Hunter. "Are you still tracking this beast by an act of faith, or it is now only a vile desire of revenge? "

"Shut your snout ..." the lynx burned.

"You Hunters, you always think you are so noble, so pure ... True, merciful angels sent on Earth to purify Evil. But let me remind you that it was OUR job ..."

"If you don't shut up, I swear to you that ..."

"We live, hunt and perish together! That's your proverb, right? How did you manage to hunt alone, little Thomas? How did you manage to not perish with the others? Do you want to take revenge on the one who killed them, or to persuade you that you're not the coward you think you are? "

At these words, Thomas lost all reserve, turned with a quick movement, and gripped the demon at the collar, an expression of terrible fury printed on his face.

"Another word and I will kill you !"

"Thomas, stop!" Intervened Oce. " This is useless!"

"Oh, it seems that I haven't lost my talent to check the moral worth of mortals." Whispered the demon fox, casting his burning gaze into one of his interlocutors.

While the lynx, driven mad by the provocations of his interlocutor, was about to unsheathe his sword to make him discover the taste of eternal silence again, the dark shrubs, shrouded in mist, suddenly stirred. Time hung for a second, before a shattering mass of shaggy muscles and dark-black fur split the space, throwing the three of them several meters away.

Oce straightened up, slightly stunned, looking for her allies, but her eyes immediately focused on the huge monster that now occupied the center of the small glade. A colossus of flesh, bone, and coat was slowly recovering, a gigantic sword, cut from an even more gigantic bone, between his enormous, clawed paws. His wild wolf face was illuminated by the inner fire that seemed to consume him forever and was reflected inside of his eyes and in the back of his throat, but also in the interstices carved by the hundreds of scars that hung his tortuous body.

The rumbling beast erupted into a cavernous and threatening bark, clearly implying his intentions.

"I knew I should have run away..." Zieg muttered, straightening in the middle of a bush a few feet away from the bunny. "Of the Seven Calamities that I promised to help you fight, you had to choose the most lethally dangerous for the first round. At least he is nothing more than a wild and snarling beast now. We can take advantage of that..."

The bunny shook her head, straightening herself by pulling her sword from her sheath.

As the duo got back on their feet, a howl of rage was heard from the other side of the glade. It was Thomas, who was walking furiously toward the giant wolf, his crossbow in his paws.

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU, SAMAEL!"


	3. The Cub and the Maw

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : A big thank you to our nice editors, PapaReRe (Reader) and ArdentFox (Jrh)! We love you!**

 **Chapter 2: The Cub and the Maw**

* * *

Acrid dust fell back onto the battlefield. The small clearing that served as the setting for the battle was now totally devastated. Some of the trees were on fire, and the others were riddled with crossbow bolts where they hadn't been half torn off by giant claws.

Thomas Cataro was standing at the northern end of the area. Almost out of breath he tried to keep his consciousness, while stains of blood ran down the broken arm that hung limply against his side. From the center of the clearing, the Scourge Samael gazed at his opponent with fiery eyes. In withdrawal, Oce straightened again painfully. Her coat was ruffled and her tunic severely torn, but she had not suffered any significant injuries. For some strange reason, and even though they were three against one, Samael seemed to focus on Thomas in particular.

"Although his mind is annihilated, it seems he hasn't forgotten the face of his tormentor," Zieg stated while landing softly beside the bunny, who gave him a fierce look.

The fox hadn't been exactly useful during the battle. He had taken advantage of his aerial aptitudes to keep himself out of reach of Samael's attacks while spraying some unconvincing flames at him from time to time, which had been more harmful to the environment than to the beast that they faced.

Samael, on the other hand, had tasted the fury of the hunter who has tracked him down for so long. His massive body was studded with so many crossbow tiles that he looked almost like a pork-and-picks while several deep gashes where a demonstration to the high precision of the Boreal Lynx in the arts of the sword. Nevertheless, neither tiredness nor the countless number of wounds seemed to have a hold on Samael's supernatural vigor. This demon had certainly earned his nickname of Calamity.

"It would be better to retreat, Thomas!" Oce insisted hesitantly. "We should regroup and establish a strategy that would allow us to take the advantage over him ... In this open space, he is too lively and free in his movements. Even with the three of us, we can't corner him. "

"Out of the question!" the lynx shouted in anger, shaking his head and straightening his crossbow that he managed to maneuver easily, even with one hand. "No more delays. I've been waiting for this moment for too long."

"The moment of your death, you mean?" Zieg intervened. "You better resolve to hear the truth. Even if it comes out of the bunny's mouth for once."

"I've already beaten this beast once," Thomas frowned. "I can do it again."

"It's a demon of the first generation," the vulpine replied. "You had a whole group of hunters with you at the first time, and today, his savagery and bestiality make him at least twice as dangerous."

"I don't need any hunting lesson from a bloody fox!" Thomas shouted. "Do you think I didn't notice how you avoided fighting all this time?"

The Scourge Samael straightened slightly, his eyes burning with deadly fire. He uttered a low groan while tensing his huge tortuous muscles. Thomas didn't take his eyes off of him, standing ready to act as soon as the slightest opening would appear.

"My fire can't do anything against him," Zieg countered in a detached voice.

"Why is that?" questioned Oce, who was putting a new bolt in her own crossbow.

"Because it can only burn what it thinks is a threat ..."

"And this monster is not one?" Thomas argued hatefully. "Not for you, no doubt. A demon doesn't have to fear one of his peers ... I suspected you were not reliable! "

"That has nothing to do with it." Zieg countered him contemptuously. "Samael is of the same generation as me. We have been sent to this Earth with laudable intentions... Our love of mortals has become our curse. My flames remember that time. I can't control how they perceive my environment. They know that Samael was a good being and a trusted friend... Even though there is nothing left of him but a wild monster today."

"Crap!" Thomas let go, finally losing his composure. "You demons made our Creator look away from us, and surrender ourselves to eternal night. As long as you defile this world, there will never be peace! I will finish with this abomination, and then it will be your turn!"

Having let go of those words, the lynx threw a rain of crossbow's bolt at Samael, who straightened his arm brutally to catch the metal hail. Taking advantage of the protective movement he had imposed on his opponent, Thomas leaped forward, slipping into the opening he had created, and managed to take Samael by surprise, just in his blind spot. His blade pointed with accuracy and force to the throat of his enemy, which he almost managed to pierce ... But it was not enough to prevent the latter from retreating abruptly with an erratic grunt, avoiding the deathly movement that was intended for him. With his arm carried away by his own swing, Thomas found himself deprived of leeway, at the mercy of the slightest action of his opponent... The lynx closed his eyes, accepting his fate, while the massive arm of Samael split air of the clearing, ready to hit him with incredible violence...

But a shadow intervened between the monster and its prey, dampening the shock just before it ravaged its target. The lynx's eyes widened, realizing that Zieg had just placed himself between the demon and his person, before the fox was thrown against him, and both of them were thrown a dozen meters back. They made several rolls, clashing with each other in a rickety thunder, before collapsing to the ground.

The violence of the shock had knocked the wind out of Thomas' lungs, who widened his eyes as he found himself muzzle to muzzle with the fox demon.

"Hi handsome," said Zieg, smiling stupidly.

Thomas would have liked to be able to repel him, but the last attack he had just undergone had completely reduced his forces to nothing. If Zieg had not screened, there would have been nothing left of Thomas but lynx porridge right now.

"Stay here, and learn your lesson, Hunter," the fox commented soberly while straightening up. The shock did not seem to have particularly shaken him, but his stature seemed a bit wobbly. "You will not die tonight."

Thomas's trembling fist tightened around a lump of grass that he managed to grasp and grind to release his rage. The last thing he could see was Zieg's dark figure returning to the battle zone before everything became black for him.

* * *

When he regained consciousness again, Thomas Cataro was settled in a warm and cozy bed. His bruised body made him suffer at even at the slightest movement. His arm was broken in three places, and he had several broken and cracked ribs. But he was still breathing ... However, he didn't know if he should rejoice or be outraged.

"Ah, you're finally awake! Good. "

The bright, cheerful voice was that of Oce, who was sitting on a stool by his side. She closed the book she had been reading and placed it on the bedside table.

"How do you feel? A bit better?" She asked.

"Did you kill the demon?" Thomas asked, totally ignoring the question that had been asked. "Tell me you didn't let him get away again! "

"Zieg did it..." the rabbit replied vaguely.

"Does that mean he's dead? "

"In a way, yes." A new voice intervened that Thomas identified without difficulty, although in his position he couldn't distinguish its owner.

Zieg was standing in a remote, dark corner of the room, which was only illuminated by the corrupted flame between his horns.

"One can die only one way." Countered the lynx.

"For mortals, maybe ... Even though dishonor may be a form of death to your eyes."

At these words, Thomas looked away, unable to repress the bitterness that grew in his mind. The demon was right. At that very moment, he would have preferred death rather than the shame he felt.

"As for Samael, he is no longer a concern for you." continued the demon-fox. "You should focus on healing and the restoration of your strength. Your lousy Hunters can't afford to deprive themselves of a fighter like you."

After uttering these words, the fox left the room with a detached step. Oce straightened up, ready to follow him.

"You are letting him lead the game, Oce," Thomas said just as the bunny was about to leave the room. " That's a mistake. He has already betrayed you once. Don't let him do it again. "

"Don't worry, Thomas. I am only giving him the confidence he deserves."

"And that's worth something?"

"Barely," Oce answered in a whisper, before closing the door behind her, letting Thomas digest his failure, and recover from his terrible wounds.

It could have been difficult for the bunny to find Zieg in the reception hall of the care home where they had brought Thomas back. In public, the fox demon could change his appearance to hide among mortals, and without his horns, his wings, or the red color of his eyes, he wasn't easy to identify in a crowd. Nevertheless, she instantly recognized him because of his red scarf and joined him in front of the bay window where he stood observing the green hills which shone under the glow of the morning sun.

"I decided to do you a favor last night, fox," Oce said without looking at his demonic partner.

"And you did well, by believing in me."

"Won't he continue to kill? All the massacre and destruction. Thomas didn't chase him for nothing, you know?"

"It's not in his nature," Zieg explained with detachment. "I managed to unlock a tiny part of his mind. Rebuilding the rest will certainly take centuries, but now the Scourge Samael no longer represents a concrete threat to Hallow's country. Now he remembers his first task... "

"You do too, it seems," the bunny countered. "That still doesn't prevent you from being a real danger."

"And yet we stand side by side with mortals, and nothing burns, explodes, or disappears in the abyss. Strange, isn't it? "

"You're able to do a lot more damage than just destroying your environment, Zieg," Oce said, placing a paw to her chest and lowering her head slightly.

The fox found no way to answer.

Undoubtedly, the Huntress was right.

"Hey! Oce Rydia, isn't it? "

The two acolytes turned towards the voice that had just called the bunny.

Coming up to them cheerfully was a black wolf, half-concealed under an ocher-colored hood. He wore light armor from Redcounty's Conclave of Hunters, and only a blue patterned scarf distorted the serious and combative look of his standard equipment.

"Yes it's me, officer..." the bunny replied, scrutinizing the newcomer warily.

The wolf's muzzle turned into a satisfied smile until he almost ran into the nurse who accidentally crossed his path. Stepping aside to avoid the crash, the canine slipped awkwardly backward and tried to regain his balance by ridiculously beating his arms, but in the end, the canine stumbled over his own tail and fell onto an old otter. Fortunately, the elder mammal was more startled than hurt.

Oce rushed to help the poor female get up, while the wolf in armor got up shamefully, his murmuring of excuses and the uncontrollable laughter of Zieg making the scene even more hilarious.

"My name is Luckyz. Luckyz Jeffersen." The black wolf explained once the fox demon finally managed to stop laughing (which took several long minutes). "I am in charge of the special brigades of the Redcounty Conclave. I heard you were in the region, Miss Rydia ... And I thought maybe you could help me solve a demon problem. "

"A demon is always a problem, Jeffersen." replied Oce which was answered by a disdainful sigh from Zieg.

"This one is more than a problem, Miss Rydia," Luckyz replied. "It's a Calamity."

* * *

"Officer Jeffersen, I understand that you're keen on proving your value to your superiors, but could you control the beats of your tail?" Oce grumbled, after suffering from a tail-stroke-to-the-face for the third time in a row.

"Oh, my apologies, miss! "

Luckyz grabbed his tail with both paws, knowing that he would not be able to control his obvious nervousness any other way.

"I like this cub," Zieg commented with detachment.

Oce glanced at him, and could not help but blush slightly. The fox's elegant evening suit looked good on him and the red scarf, nonchalantly thrown back over his shoulders, allowed him to stand out among the crowd of gentlemammals.

The fox demon handed her a glass of champagne so pure that it was obvious that the drink was worth a fortune.

"I'll need more to confuse my mind," Zieg commented, bringing his own cup to his smiling lips. "But your dress has already helped to damage it."

The bunny grabbed the glass, looking away and ignoring the compliment. She drank the entire glass all at once before moving away, trying to somehow hide the red that rose to her cheek. The fox wasn't wrong. Oce's white evening dress added even more to her natural beauty, and she literally shone among the high-society females who occupied the Grand Hall of the Redcounty's Ducal Palace, where a Charity Ball was held this evening, organized by the wealthiest barons of this rich Hallow region.

"Are you sure it's one of the Seven Calamities, Jeffersen?" Oce questioned, trying to drive out of her mind the thoughts that Zieg's idiotic words had planted there.

"It's just a theory, but for some reason, I think HQ is struggling to take me seriously." Luckyz replied, spreading out his arms to emphasize his incomprehension. In doing so, he managed to slam his arm into a waiter, causing him to flip over his tray full of champagne flutes, which poured out entirely on the little salon below and flooded the suite, as well as the wife of one of the wealthiest barons of the province.

Whistling with a deceptively detached air, Luckyz strode away distractedly, with Oce on his heels.

The bunny didn't have the time to go two meters away before she was stopped by Baron Krassman, a heavily built hog whose chain jacket must have been more worth than all the possessions of the Huntress together.

"Ah, Miss Rydia! You honor us with your radiant presence. It's a delight to count you among my guests."

He stretched out his white-gloved paw while bowing respectfully. Accustomed to protocol, the bunny put her paw in the hollow of his, and let the baron kiss it. This all happened under the inquisitive eyes of Zieg, who was sitting at the bar a few meters away, never letting his attention waver from his hunting partner. The demon's gaze came and went from the bunny to the crowd, searching for the slightest trace that one of his peers might have left in the midst of the glamorous jumble and laughter.

"Miss Rydia, "continued Baron Krassman after standing up. "May I introduce you to the other prestigious guests of my honorable ball?"

"But, of course, Monsieur le Baron," Oce replied distractedly, trying to hide as much as possible her annoyance at this waste of time.

With a theatrical gesture of the paw, the baron invited a mammal of tall stature to join the conversation. It was a smiling lynx with a radiant look, dressed in a black suit that fit him perfectly. Clinging to the lapel of his jacket was the chain of a gold pocket watch. Strangely, the slightest view on the object made the bunny feel uncomfortable.

"I present to you the Right Honorable Judge Arten, who officiates at the ducal court of Redcounty. The incredible count of cases that he solved had forged his more-than-deserved reputation. Thanks to him, the treasure of the state is now safer than ever from thieves and evil beings. An effort that your father can't ignore, can he? "

"My stepfather," Oce immediately corrected dryly.

Nevertheless, the baron had no time to apologize for his error, since Judge Arten was already stretching his out his paw grasp the bunny's and apply a kiss. She accepted with a slightly trembling paw, her discomfort growing rapidly with every second she spent in the company of the so-called Arten.

When he put his lips on the fur of her hand, the bunny gave a disgusted jump and immediately withdrew it, scandalizing Baron Krassman, who (although he didn't express his stupor) wore an exaggerated expression that was a sufficiently telling to substitute for the slightest word.

"My apologies, sir," the bunny justified. "I just felt bad for a moment."

The baron uttered a contrite sneer, fearing that this affair would put him in a bad position with the judge, with whom he obviously wished to obtain favor.

"The shock, no doubt, of being in the presence of such a great judge," the pig concluded clumsily.

Judge Arten didn't pay attention to his guest's humor. His gaze never left the one of the Huntress, who was still paralyzed with terror. A thin smile appeared on his muzzle, which, until then, had been entirely inexpressive.

"The honor is mine. Finally having the pleasure of meeting Miss Rydia..." he finally said in a flattering voice, all of sugar and honey. "Knowing your reputation, we are made to understand each other."

"No doubt..." the bunny stammered after a long silence. Her mind was struggling to refocus on the essentials. It could't be the effect of alcohol, could it?

"Perhaps you will do me the honor of a dance?" Proposed the smiling lynx, without ever letting go of his interlocutor.

Oce took a step back, and bumped right Zieg's chest, which was right behind her, as he simultaneously laid a protective paw on her bare shoulder. At this simple touch, Oce suddenly came back to her senses.

"Sorry sir," the fox replied for his partner. "But Miss Rydia's next dance has already been promised to me."

Without allowing Judge Arten or Baron Krassman to react, Zieg led his partner to the center of the room, where a waltz was in progress. Sneaking through the flow of dancers, the fox began the dance, bringing Oce's body back against his.

"I felt something." the bunny muttered, forcing her body to bend to the dizzying beat of the waltz. She still felt nauseated by this icy contact with Arten.

"It's him," Zieg stated bluntly. "He stinks like death."

* * *

The smoking room was filled with a thick, sharp mist, escaping from the cigars, cigarettes, and cigarillos smoked by the rich notables of Redcounty, gathered together by themselves, mammals of power, far from the greedy populace and the cooing females who still dally under the playful tunes of the orchestra. In this more subdued atmosphere, plots of money, far more destructive than the wars they engendered, were played out.

In a dark corner, Judge Arten was discussing with a noble mammal, a wealthy newcomer who had recently arrived in the upper echelons, and who was already trembling with excitement at the thought of filling up his pockets even more.

"You got me an audience with the baron?" Inquired the individual, a horse with feverish eyes.

"Don't be so nervous," the lynx replied, while he was rubbing his pocket watch in a silk handkerchief nonchalantly.

"It's the laundering of my last business. You assured me that everything would be in order for tonight."

"You should not worry about it."

The voice of the lynx was icy, as if it wasn't from this world. He turned his haughty look towards his interlocutor, and could not repress a slight laugh.

"There are more important things to do, right now," Arten said calmly. "For example: What time is it?"

The horse patted his pockets nervously, searching for his watch, before turning his gaze towards the one the Judge was holding between his fingers.

"But ... Why ask me? You have your own... "

"It's midnight-thirty-three, precisely," Judge Arten interrupted while turning the dial toward him.

The horse eyes widened, immediately seized by the strange and evil power that emanated from the object. The feline let the watch slip out of hisfingers, holding it only by the gold chain that connected it to his jacket. Slowly, he began to swing it from left to right. The pupils of the horse refused to let go of the object and followed its linear and repetitive motion.

"What time is it?" Arten asked again, glancing over his shoulder, trying to make sure no one was watching.

"Mid ... Night ... Th ... Thirty ... Th ... Three ..." the horse mumbled vaguely, a trickle of drool flowing from his half-open chin.

"Perfect," the lynx commented soberly, turning his attention to his unfortunate interlocutor. "It's dinner time."

With this words, the maw of Judge Arten split from one side to the other, spreading to his ears in a terrifying grimace. Fear could be read in the eyes of the horse, who was consciously aware of this ignoble physical metamorphosis but was no longer able to move or shout. The fangs of the lynx were multiplied by a process too odious to be described. They tapered like sharp, dirty needles, to proportions that might have seemed grotesque if they weren't so terrifying. But the worst was still the tongue of extravagant dimensions, hanging and moving, which came and went in the middle of these fangs, dripping slime... It reproduced the hypnotic movement of the pendulum that had plunged the horse into this terrible state. Impossible for him to get rid of it. He knew he would end up at the bottom of that gaping maw.

The Judge bent over the right arm of his unfortunate victim and bit down with complacency. The horse felt the pain to its highest peak of intensity, but could not even make a groan. By way of flesh and blood, it was his soul that the lynx had between his fangs when he straightened his mouth covered with saliva ... The horse could observe a concrete emanation of his own arm, translucent and slightly bluish, that Judge Arten swallowed greedily as if it were a simple appetizer.

Immediately, his physical arm began to darken, to decay from the spot where it was bit, until it gradually fell to crumbs, then to dust. The pain was excruciating, his soul was literally torn apart. But he could not scream. There was nothing he could do.

"I'll take another little bite since you offer it so nicely," Judge Arten said sadistically.

"So, eating this one?" A thunderous voice intervened, which cut short the judge's feast, before being punctuated by a powerful punch, directly in his jaw.

Arten was propelled several meters away before recovering briskly, completely ignoring the shock he had suffered. In front of him stood Zieg, still posted in his offensive move.

"My, my… A familiar face." Arten snorted. "Deploy your wings and your horns, and erase those charming blue eyes. Your costume is even more ridiculous than the rags you wear. "

Oce's voice was heard in its turn. As the notables stood up, worried about the tumult that had just started at the back of the smoking room, the bunny opened the door wide.

"Get out of here!" She ordered bluntly. "Case of demons! "

The rich mammals of Redcounty didn't make themselves pray and hurried to run away, some already began to utter hysterical cries.

"You have no style, Zieg," Judge Arten commented, dusting his own clothes. "Look at me, rather. The incarnated style."

"And your disgusting face." retorted the fox, letting his demonic garb reappear. His wings unfolded behind his back, and his horns gushed from his skull, dripping immediately with the unique black liquid, which flooded his face, where two bright red eyes had just reappeared.

"Are we playing faces discovered, then?" The lynx mocked, his gaping maw dripping saliva at each of his words.

"We are not playing, Arten," the fox demon snapped. "Tonight, you will die."

Judge Arten gave a devilish laugh before spreading his arms, inviting his opponent to engage hostilities. The fox didn't wait for this silent proposal, and propelled himself with an overpowering wingbeat in his direction. The lynx was hit hard, and the two opponents passed through the bay window, which flew in a million splinters, before landing with a roar on the great balcony of the residence.

Collet-tight with his opponent, nothing could stop Judge Arten from biting. And that's what he had been waiting for since Zieg made his appearance. He closed his jaw on the fox's neck, his dozens of teeth planting in the flesh and literally harpooning the tendons. The fox's blood spurted between the narrowed chins of his opponent.

"Did you forget how it feels, little fox?" Arten's voice quipped. It came from the deepest parts of his body. He didn't need to stir his lips to be heard. "You have no soul that I can steal to increase my immeasurable collection. But your flesh is palpable. And I will devour every single part of it! "

"Not while I'm here! "

Oce's blade sliced through the air before falling to the misshapen face of the monster that still was biting the demon fox on the jugular.

Wit a straightening of his face towards the Huntress, Arten's vast tooth-lined maw infused a feeling of intense terror into the bunny's mind. It was as if this abject opening was a bottomless hole that aspired her values, her temperance, to the slightest trace of her courage.

"You are delicious, Miss Rydia." Judge Arten commented as he stood up.

Oce had recoiled in panic, and stumbled limply to the ground, overcame by fear.

"The fox will make a good dessert, I think," the lynx demon continued as he leaned toward her, his predatory look taking on a tangible form, literally crushing his prey to the ground. "As for you, I'm going to devour you as a main dish. "

The demon's tongue licked his filthy lips, and a thick slime trickle crashed to the floor. Oce tried to crawl away, but she was totally paralyzed.

Disregarding the impressive amount of blood cascading from the wound at his neck, Zieg straightened up, attempting to storm his opponent again to save the bunny from his deadly intentions.

But the lynx had only to straighten his pocket watch in the direction of the fox, and he didn't even need to give him a single look to bend it to his will.

"Lie still, Zieg. "

The fox demon's legs balked under the weight of hypnosis, and he wondered how a simple accessory was able to put him under the yoke of his enemy... But the answer was obvious, and wasn't related to the watch. Judge Arten was one of the Seven Calamities... One of those responsible for his downfall six years ago. He had stolen something from him ... One thing he missed today to compete with his evil spells ...

Judge Arten gave a dark laugh before leaning his hideous face toward his Lagomorph prey.

"Miss Rydia ... You refused me a dance ... I'm ... Very sad. "

In a demonic rattle, he spread his jaws further, opening a cavernous pit darker and even more frightening than the darkest strata of Hell... And Oce, hypnotized by horror, already felt her soul being sucked into it.

Arten's eyes widened. A small pebble had struck him on the temple.

"Who... Dares ... Interrupt my ... MEAL ?!" Shouted the lynx, straightening up, turning his head to the mammal that had prevented the murder he was about to commit.

In front of him stood Luckyz, smiling, though a little uncomfortable.

"Hello ... I'm Luckyz!" The black wolf finally replied, pointing his thumb against his chest. "I would like to check your paw, but ... you're disgusting, dude."

"Someone must be making fun of me..." Arten snorted. "Are you serious ?"

"I'm always serious ... well, I think."

The wolf turned his head slightly for a moment, pressing his fingers against his temples to constrain himself to concentration.

"They nickname me MoonMoon sometimes ... Because my head is sometimes ... Well, up there, you see!" He finally added, pointing at the moon.

A moment of silence imposed itself, and Arten shared the incredulous look that Oce and Zieg offered to their "savior".

"You're wasting my time, but since you want to die so much..."

Arten didn't have time to finish his sentence that his interlocutor had disappeared. He felt a presence rise in his back. Luckyz was in full swing, his sword spread, burning with a magic flame, which covered it from the guard to the point. In the eyes of the wolf, there was no longer an ounce of naivety.

"You're too ugly to live!" The black wolf let out with a smile, before cutting his flaming blade at his opponent.


	4. The Vixie and the Doll

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig note : Once again, we want to thanks our editor, ReaderNo31142 and Jrh01409** **who have offered their help on their own and are sacrificing their evenings each day to help us post quality chapters. We owe you a lot friends. Thank you for everything.**

 **Chapter 3: The Vixie and the Doll**

* * *

Sharp as a shadow, Luckyz fell fiercely against his opponent, his burning sword ready to slice his opponent's head. But he did not expect Judge Arten to be as fast as he was. The demon let himself fall to the ground, dodging the fiery thrust, and in an offensive outburst of dislocated limbs, he hurried away like a frightful spider. His claws, which became veritable sickles, plunged into the white stone of the wall without difficulty, and he climbed a few meters high, overlooking the balcony where his adversaries were staying.

"I thought it would take you Hunters longer to find me." exclaimed the Judge in a hoarse, dark voice.

"I had help on that one," Luckyz vaguely replied. "Without the trust of Miss Rydia, we would not be face to face today. "

"I am meticulous. I leave no trace. "

"But rich notables who disappear one after the other is still suspicious." the black wolf explained, twirling his flaming sword. In the process, he nearly burned his nose and gave a startled cry. He shook the sword away from his face. "Damn! "

Zieg, who was slowly recovering from the hypnosis inflicted by Arten, leaned a paw against his forehead, before grumbling. "We're doomed."

The fox glanced in the direction of Oce, who remained paralyzed on the ground, eyes frozen in terror and mouth ajar. It wasn't about the hypnotic effect of the judge. It was paralysis of pure fright. Zieg gave a stifled sigh, before straightening up with difficulty.

"Stay on the ground, dog. Your legs are numb!" The Judge intoned from his upright position.

Immediately, the demon fox fell to his knees under the influence of the hypnosis and let out an annoyed growl.

"It's good to see that you know how to obey."

"Fuck!" Zieg muttered. "How can his influence on me be that strong? "

"Heh!" Luckyz hailed for the devil whose dribble was streaming down the wall. "You are not the sharpest tool in the box, are you? "

"Look who is talking," Judge Arten replied with a sneer.

"I was just wondering: Why would you choose mammals of importance. You know, rich notables, wealthy people? Would you just have picked commoners, nobody would have ever known. But you had to hit the caviar. Why?"

Judge Arten raised an eyebrow.

"If it was possible for you to eat a succulent lobster rather than a poor chunk of stale bread, don't you think you would have made the same decision? "

"Hmmm. I'm not that much into seafood. It's so... Not my taste, you see?" The Hunter replied, sporting a look between reflection and disgust. "Not to mention the fact that I can eat all the bread I want. I can make a buffet of it…mmmm ... with a little bit of hot chocolate, why not! "

"ENOUGH!" The feline demon interrupted. "I am growing tired of conversing with the village idiot."

"You should be honest with yourself, Arten," Zieg whispered weakly as he struggled to even open his lips. "You have devoured these souls because they were corrupt to the core."

"It's true that it gives them a little bit of an - extra spicy taste!" Arten agreed, dripping with slime at the mere thought of devouring such exquisite food again. "And that's also the reason why I'm looking forward to devouring this bunny. It seems to me that it was you who corrupted her, after all ... to the depths of her flesh. I don't like playing the spades, usually, but in your case, I'll make an exception! "

"Peekaboo!"

Arten's eyes widened, finding himself muzzle to muzzle with Luckyz, who had again surprised him not only with his speed but also by his ability to jump much higher than the average wolf. The canine was already preparing his fiery attack, and the Judge had no choice but to let himself fall to the ground to avoid a fatal blow. He had barely the time to recover before his opponent was already on him again, harassing him with so much quickness and accuracy, that the demon could not avoid all the blows. His suit was split and burned by the flame, and a black, corrosive liquid began scaping from his wounds.

"You were spending too much time with chit-chat, Judge!" Luckyz commented, increasing the speed of his attacks. "If you want to eat, you should just do it and don't waste your time by talking about it!"

"Then I'll start with you!" The devil shouted, flinging himself fiercely on the wolf, making a total mockery of exposing himself to the blade, which split his shoulder.

Luckyz could not have anticipated such an unpredictable counterattack, and the judge's fangs stuck in his arm. Nevertheless, they didn't have time to cling to it due to the black wolf's agility, and he managed to get out of this unfortunate situation by a clever leap backward. However, his wound was deep and extremely painful. He tried to get back into a fighting stance, but the flame of his sword began to extinguish slowly. Moments later, the black wolf couldn't feel his fingers anymore.

"Leave your weapon," Judge Arten ordered.

Luckyz had no choice but to obey. His conscience struggled against it, but his body complied with his opponent's will.

"My saliva can also bend my prey to my will," Arten explained with a satisfied smile, before slowly straightening up, totally ignoring the pain from all the wounds he had suffered in the battle. "Here you are, all three of you under my power. Well, what will you do next?"

Obviously, Luckyz had lost his humor, and the atmosphere wasn't fun at all anymore.

"Oh, but you can't do anything, that's right. Bon appêtit! "

Certainly, sadistically, Judge Arten turned his attention to the prey that represented the least danger for him, in order to drive the point of humiliation to his other adversaries. So he went slowly but eagerly for Oce.

"Stop it, Arten!" Zieg shouted.

The lynx demon merely gave a cruel and condescending look at his vulpine counterpart, before sneering, "You're really pitiful, Zieg ... you'd better stay in the Underealms. Weaklings like you have their place there."

Having dropped those words, he grabbed Oce by her wrist, lifting her up like a mundane rag doll. The rabbit did not even have the strength or the will to utter a word of protest. Her gaze was empty and distant as if she had already accepted her fate.

"Not miss Rydia!" Luckyz intervened in a panicked voice. "Eat me instead! I'm sure I'm succulent!"

"Your soul is too pure and innocent to interest me, you fool. You will be the last I devour tonight. Perhaps I will content myself with your limbs, and let you live with the rest. You will cavort about much less without your legs."

"Arten, I'm going to kill you!" Zieg shouted helplessly. Unable to be contained anymore by the fox, his rage manifested itself in a burning flame that glowed between his horns. His face was almost entirely black, as tarry liquid dripped abundantly from the top of his skull.

"There is only one problem, Zieg. You can't," Arten quipped before opening her mouth in front of the bunny's left paw, which fell limply in front of her face. "I prefer to start with extremities..."

"Zieg ..." Luckyz muttered, still paralyzed by the venom of the lynx. "Hurt me."

"What? I don't think there is time for..."

"Do it! Burn me somehow!"

The gaping jaws of the demon Arten slowly closed on Oce's paw, while the lynx displayed an ecstatic expression.

"It's another form of hand-kissing, miss. I'm just following the protocol," Judge Arten mocked when his fangs closed on his grin.

"No!" Zieg yelled, panicked.

"Not that!" Luckyz added in the same tone.

A metallic clatter silenced everyone, while the pleasure once displayed by Judge Arten turned into disbelief.

He looked down to observe what had just opposed his bite, to note that the white glove was torn from his prey revealing an entirely mechanical paw.

"What the fu… ?" The lynx muttered angrily.

"Okay Luckyz, I hope you know what you're doing!" Zieg said, using all his strength to lean his head toward the leg of his lupine ally.

The black wolf clenched his fangs as the fox demon's permanent flame ravaged his calf. The pain was intense, much stronger than that caused by natural fire. But it had the desired effect. Due to the acute pain, the hypnotic effect of Arten was relegated to the lowest strata of the hunter's mind, who found enough strength to move.

With a quick flick of the wrist, he picked up his still extinguished blade and melted towards Judge Arten, who showed him an incredulous expression.

Zieg concentrated all his will to project his own demonic flames in the direction of the blade that was wielded by the black wolf, enveloping it with his own dark fire. The sword literally burst with a gigantic flame.

Arten let Oce fall to the floor, stunned by what had just happened. It was too late to retreat. How could this foolish wolf get rid of his hypnotic grip? How could his blade burn with such intensity?

"Oh..." he declared…

And that was the last word he uttered before Luckyz rammed his flaming sword right into the gaping maw, with all the force he was able to deploy. A deep roar was heard from the depths of the lynx demon, who burst into a sharp scream which seemed to come from the darkest corners of hell.

Luckyz dropped his blade and covered his ears with his paw, grimacing at the terrible agony of one of the Seven Calamities.

Arten's body curled up on all sides, almost as if all his bones broke one after the other, then his whole form was compressed and tightened around his mouth, which quickly became the only noticeable part of him. Finally, by an odious and horrifying process, the maw seemed to wrap around itself, until it was reduced to nothing, leaving not even the slightest trace of the Judge.

"And here's one who returned to the Underealms!" Zieg said, before collapsing to the floor, exhausted both physically and mentally by the ordeal he had just passed through.

Luckyz, for his part, and despite his wounds, began to dance merrily around the balcony while jumping for joy.

"I beat a demon! I beat a demon!"

Zieg gave him an incredulous look, before turning his attention back to Oce, who seemed to be slowly regaining her senses and recovering from her emotions. It appeared that her personal nocturnal terror had finally gone away. Still ashamed, she readjusted the rags of her white glove, trying to hide the metal that replaced her paw.

Luckyz finally stopped to take a pensive look.

"Do you think the soul of Monsieur le Cheval arm is going to come back to him? Wait a minute… does an arm have a soul anyway? "

"Not now Luckyz," Zieg mumbled, too tired to be as cheerful as his ally.

"You are right, Mr. Zieg. I have better things to do," the black wolf said with a haughty air. "I have to ... DANCE ! "

Luckyz resumed his joyous movements, while his comrades took the time to recover.

* * *

The door of the inn's room swung open, allowing a sheepish and somewhat dazed Zieg to enter. The place that was lit by the remains of a smoldering chimney fire.

The fox straightened his muzzle, intrigued, as Oce entered to the room after him and shut the door behind her. Zieg had momentarily undone his demonic cloaks to go unnoticed, but now that they were alone again, he didn't want to waste the little bit energy he still had.

The rabbit only glanced at him distractedly, before removing her gloves, and undoing the bodice of her dress to make herself more at ease.

"Am I right in hoping that the rest of the night will be softer?" The demon asked teasingly while casting an insistent glance at his partner's bare shoulders.

Oce, not even respond to the provocation, just grabbed the fox by the scarf and dragged him to the bed. The demon didn't pose any form of resistance, contenting himself with her reaction.

"Oh, it would seem so, yes." He commented before being pushed on the mattress by the bunny. He let himself fall into the softness of the sheets. "You should remove the rest of this dress. You would be more comfortable. "

She gave him a sidelong glance, and still remaining silent, she leaned over him. The fox pointed his muzzle at hers, but she dodged the contact to reach his scarf, which she pulled away unceremoniously.

"You know I don't really like when someone touches it," he murmured. "But for you, I guess I can make an exception."

The bunny gave a sigh before roughly putting a clean piece of cloth on the fox's neck to stop the bleeding from the wound he received in the fight.

"Don't have false hopes, Zieg. I will not commit this error again." She said dryly.

The fox's muzzle closed immediately, and he contented himself with showing a pouting and disappointed expression.

"You're not funny… "

"And you're hurt. I can't take the risk that my partner is disabled by a lack of care, even if it's me who has to heal them. "

Finding nothing to say about it, the fox sighed and allowed himself to fall back into the midst of the quilts soiled by the blood flowing from his wounds, as well as the black liquid that issued continually from his horns.

"The maid won't be happy tomorrow morning ... I should sleep on the floor."

"No way." Oce replied in an intractable tone. "You need rest and comfort. I know you're healing extremely fast, but we're leaving tomorrow, and you have to be able to travel quickly. "

"Speaking of being able to do things..." Zieg asked gruffly, "What happened back there against Arten? I agreed to help you fight the Seven Calamities, but not to do all the work alone. Without Luckyz, we would both be dead ..."

Oce felt silent for a moment, continuing to lavish care on Zieg and staring blankly ahead. Her ears flattened behind her back, giving her a very vulnerable look.

"I don't understand what happened," she finally replied.

"I don't believe a word." Zieg immediately countered. "You're a fierce and intractable fighter, trained to face the worst. You managed to tear my heart out. So don't make me think you can't put to words what happened to you."

"I'm a mortal, Zieg. I have weaknesses, that's all." she snapped, hoping to end the conversation.

"Weaknesses ... You have other ones than me? "

The rabbit gave him an exasperated look, but in response to the satisfied smile that he flashed her, she just rolled her eyes.

"The shape of this demon ... His gaping mouth ... His endless count of teeth ... It's something that always terrorized me ... As a child, I had nightmares ... I found myself in the same state tonight. That's all. "

"Oh, poor bun bun ..."

Oce's answer came in the form of an accusing and somewhat confused look. In response, Zieg shook his head and straightened his paw to caress the top of his partner's head. The rabbit was surprised to see how nice this demonic creature could be when he wanted to.

"Well, I've worked hard tonight, to the point of forcing you to stitch my throat ..."

"I'll do the same to your mouth if you don't shut up. "

"I just wanted to state that ... next time, the job is up to you. "

Oce raised her eyebrows and sighed.

"I didn't put you at my service to let you take a nap at critical moments. "

"But I don't think it's good either that you don't train that puny little body of yours," Zieg chuckled, before feeling a pinch on his neck. "Ouch."

"I'll pinch you every time you say something stupid. So you better shut up and let me finish patching up the pieces of your dead body. "

"Bunny, I have a gaping hole instead of a heart. Do you honestly believe that a simple cut to the throat could put me in danger?"

"The fact that you can't die doesn't mean you can't suffer. "

Zieg gave a slight sneer before retorting, "In that case, give me back my heart. Ouch, I'm suffering. Boo hoo. "

New pinch. "Ouch."

Zieg was silent again for a moment, but he couldn't help babbling for a long time.

"I want to make a bet. "

"No. "

"Come on, let's play! "

"I don't play with you anymore. "

"Sore loser."

"Who just spent six years in the Underealms already? "

"You make a point. But I want to bet anyway. I'm entitled to a rematch. "

The bunny gave a sigh while she was bandaging the vulpine's freshly medicated wound with a new clean piece cloth.

"What's the catch?" she sighed, anxious to finally give in to the will of her companion.

"If you win, I'll let you take my scarf for a day."

"Are you kidding me?" The rabbit exclaimed, unable to restrain a great smile, her ears straightening up on the top of her head, her little snout wriggling with excitement just like the little ball of fur that served as her tail. "You care about this second-hand thing more than your life, and you put it on the bet? Against what? "

"Hmmm ... you spend a night with me? "

"I told you to stop this bullshit. At this stage it's harassment," the bunny replied, while viciously pinching the fox's neck.

"Ouch. Okay, okay ... Hmmm ... You let me fly on my own after giving me back my heart, and you promise you won't try to send me back to the Underealms? "

"That will depend on your behavior ... And I would rather not bet on it ..."

"Well ... What about a hug then?"

Oce remained silent for several seconds and turned her head in the other direction to hide the blush on her cheeks. A useless effort, since her ears, scorched even more, and she couldn't hide it.

"Very well," she finally accepted. "So the bet is I'm able to win without your help against our next target, right? "

"That's the idea," the fox nodded. "However, if you are about to die, I will not bother to interfere and play the 'Deus-Ex-Machina' card ... Your knight serving fox hero, pure and beautiful on his valiant steed, all dressed in white, in the brilliant shine of a sunny ... »

"You are a demon, Zieg. So, you can just forget that image of yourself!" the bunny interrupted and began to laugh cheerfully.

After the night they had just passed, this simple laugh seemed unexpected.

* * *

In the dark and damp lair, cold and dripping with stagnant water, a clawed paw with long, skeletal fingers came to catch a little burlap doll, looking as ugly as it was miserable.

"My precious little girl ... dear little girl ... stay with me ... share my pain ... and my eternity ..."

The voice was dark and murmuring, full of vices. It bore the weight of a millennium of impurity. It belonged to a tall, lean creature, a real reanimated skeleton. Its movements were dry and jerky, rhythmic in fits and jolts as if they were rusty. The tall, dark figure pressed the doll against her bony chest, and leaned her head towards her, revealing her face by the light of a pale candle, which was burning on a stone altar where were arranged a lot of macabre ritual elements as well as spell scrolls written in now-extinct languages. The face of the creature was as odious as the environment in which it was evolving. It was a feline of a non-identifiable species, her emaciated face barred by a broad smile full of black fangs, carious but nevertheless sharp. Her eyes were black as night, and only a pair of bright red pupils vibrated inside of them. In place of her ears she had two substantial red horns, and at the top of her skull was a tattered old hat, with some little piece of bones attached to it.

"We're going to add corpses to the stack of condemned, still today ... Little darling ..." the funny voice of the creature hummed. "And we will not stop until it touches the sky. Hihihi! "

With a sharp and abrupt movement, the bony entity straightened up, and in a subtle gesture, more vivid and devious than the wind, she rejoined the entrance of the black cavern that served as her lair. Like an elusive snake, she slipped outward, ready to spread her evil spells over the world of mortals.

* * *

"No, it's not good Aliya! You know this movement by heart though. Concentrate! "

The firm voice was that of a fox dressed in the commander's uniform of the Hunters of Silentwind, the regent country of the lands of Hallow, where officiated the best warriors of the organization. His armor was unobtrusive and light, and he wore over green cloth, fastened to his slender waist by a sword-girdle.

The fox gazed at his pupil, a young corsac vixen who was kneeling on the ground, after having made a bad maneuver in the sequence that his master had imposed on her as a morning training. The so-called Aliya was dressed in a simple combat dress, mainly composed of a superposition of tunics in canvas, which didn't grant as much protection as a robust armor but allowed incomparable ease in the movements. The leather gloves reinforced with metal cases that covered her paws also suggested that she was a melee fighter who rested more on speed and agility than on brute strength.

"Forgive me, Master Reynart. I'm going to restart. "

The mammal named Reynart shook his head, raising his eyebrows. Apparently, he didn't like being tough on his student.

The two individuals were in the center of a camp of the Hunting Guards of Brocarrion, a mobile patrol of experienced Hunters who moved incessantly on the southern territories, between Redcounty and the south peninsula of Silentwind, tracking demon beings or cults that raged in the region.

"I'm sorry, Aliya. I'm not familiar with these strange moves you brought back from your trip to the eastern continent ... Maybe I'm too demanding with you. "

The master-at-arms looked pensive and thoughtful, hovering a reflexive paw against his chin, while the vixen straightened up eagerly, visibly troubled.

"No master! Don't think that! I'm wrong, I have to work more! You must be intractable with me! I must suffer, I must sweat, I must be on the brink of agony!"

Reynart gave her a worried look, but Aliya's cheerfulness was apparent. Her tail was beating with excitement, and she literally stamped on the spot, her little fists beating the pace, eager to get back to work.

"As you wish!" Reynart replied, pointing an uncompromising finger at the ground! "Let's go for five hundred pumps! And I will count each of them! "

"Yes, Master !" Aliya exclaimed with euphoria before literally flinging herself on the ground and starting her training, beating the mechanical rhythm of her effort while doing the count herself, without flinching.

At the end of fifty, seeing her making so much effort to perfect her mastery of the art of combat and the maintenance of her young but already robust body, Reynart couldn't hold it anymore.

"Ah, youth inspires me so much! I have to keep up with it! "

And without warning, he threw himself on the ground and began to chase the pumps alongside his pupil.

"Five hundred, master, is that right? "

"It's about us, Aliya! We will come to the end of a thousand! "

"Master, you are so motivating!"

"Come on, let's do it on one arm!"

"One arm, at your command!" The vixen cheerfully nodded, plating her left paw behind her back to continue the pumps with the force of one arm.

"Recite the adage now, and in rhythm," Reynart ordered while continuing his series of pumps without flinching or showing any sign of fatigue.

"I do not fear evil," Aliya began, who for her part began to tire. She had stopped counting her series around four hundred, but her stamina was starting to fail. "I do not fear the turmoil. I am the watchful eye in the middle of the night. I protect the pure and defeat the heretic. I hunt to protect the world of mortals. "

"And who are you fighting against?" Reynart asked, trying to motivate his pupil, that he saw was gradually wavering. For his part, he wasn't even out of breath.

"I ... I do not fight against ..."

"Focus your mind on your goal. The suffering of your body is secondary. Everything lies in the will. "

"I do not fight against ... against anyone ... I ..."

The vixen swallowed dry. She was short of breath now. Her pumps became slow and painful. Her body trembled from the tip of the ears to the end of the tail under the excessive weight of the effort.

"I ... defend ... the righteous and the oppressed. "

Reynart nodded, pleased to see that despite her long absence, his young apprentice had obviously forgotten nothing of the few personnel changes he had added to the often too Manichean creeds of the Hunters. He straightened up, before nodding to his pupil.

"Stop there, Aliya, you've done enough! "

The vixen fell heavily to the ground, utterly exhausted.

"Well, you clearly don't rest in Brocarrion. At Redcounty, we hardly get a morning jog."

The teacher and his pupil both turned a surprised look towards the mammal who had just made this remark. It was, of course, Luckyz, but it was more the presence of the bunny who was walking at his side that made them react because both recognized Oce.

"Oce!" Aliya exclaimed.

Suddenly forgetting any form of fatigue, the corsac vixen jumped up and ran towards the rabbit, already spreading her arms in a hugging movement that was so brutally and cheerfully realized that the two females almost felt to the ground.

"I'm so happy to see you again, Aliya!" The bunny said smiling. "It has been so long ! I knew you had been back from traveling for several months, I was dying to have the opportunity to meet you. "

"And I, therefore!" The vixen replied, with tears in her eyes. "The terrible things going on here have prevented me from having free quarters for five months now. I was desperate to return to Silentwind and tell you all my adventures on this mysterious continent! "

"You wouldn't have found her there, anyway." Reynart finally intervened.

Oce bowed respectfully to the master at arms, who could not refrain a smile at seeing her so ceremonious. He crouched in front of her and took her in his arms, like a father seeing his child after a long separation.

"You have been away a long time too, my dear disciple." Reynart declared with affectation.

"I'm sorry, master," the rabbit replied respectfully. "I would have needed your advice lately..."

The sound of cleared throat drew everyone's attention to Zieg, who stood a few feet away, near the entrance of the camp. He hadn't dared to go inside yet.

"How cute is this family reunion," the demon commented. "But don't we have more urgent things to do? "

A firm step at the intractable pace rushed to the fox demon, and even before he could react, Aliya stood in front of him and grabbed his scarf to force him to bend down and face her directly.

"You ?!" The vixen shouted in an angry tone. "You dare to show yourself in front of me after what you did to Oce?! "

As the demon remained sheepish, shocked and dumb under the effect of this meeting, the vixen turned an angry look towards his lagomorph friend, redirecting her ire against her.

"Did you bring him back ?! It wasn't enough for you last time? I had months of work to dry your tears and listen to your Darkbunbun's lamentations after you were forced to return this asshole in the Underealms ! So will you never learn... "

Aliya couldn't finish her sentence, because the bunny had jumped on her back and now plastered her two paws around her snout to force her to silence. Red ashamed, the doe already cursed her friend enough to have let slip so much compromising information.

"Waw..." Luckyz commented. "I feel we won't get bored ..."

"YOU SHUT UP, ROOKIE!" the rabbit yelled hysterically.

"I always cause this kind of effect on them," Zieg commented with a smirk.

Oce's exaggerated gaze then turned to the demon-fox, and the flames burning in her eyes were even more intense than the one that was shining between the horns of her partner.

Zieg knew that no word would be able to protect him from the fury that was now going to rampage…

* * *

"Seriously, what were you thinking?" Aliya asked Oce who was walking alongside her at the head of the Hunters troop. They left the camp for about an hour and were heading to the village of Bram, which had sent an alert the same morning. "Bringing Zieg back ... After what he did to our group six years ago ... We almost lost everything because of this selfish demon. We could have been banished forever from the order of the Hunters. "

"It was my father's devious ideas that made us join their cause at first ... I trusted both..." Oce replied, almost sorry.

"How is he, although?" Aliya asked. "I mean ..." she lowered her voice as if the name she was about to pronounce was taboo. "... Master Rydia? "

"He always lives apart. His wounds often make him suffer. And he lost all hope ..."

Aliya remained silent for a few moments, not wanting to dwell more on a sensitive subject.

"But that doesn't answer my first question, that being said," she continued in spite of herself, piqued by her curiosity. "Do you trust Zieg again? "

"I didn't invoke him if that's what you're afraid of," Oce replied. "I just tried to take advantage of someone else's mistake. I hold his heart. He is strong. We can control him to defeat our enemies. "

"I hope you are right," Aliya muttered. "I liked that jerk. But I can't forgive him for what he did to you. He broke your heart. "

"And she snatched mine," Zieg intervened. Even though he was walking a few steps behind the two females, he hadn't lost anything of their conversations. "We are quits, then. Happy to see you too, nevertheless, little vixie."

"I'm not a kit anymore!" Aliya retorted, offering him a charming finger of honor. "And stop listening to our conversations, you rascal! "

"You just chatter less hard ... Tsss ... These females, I swear ..."

After pulling her tongue out, Aliya grabbed Oce by the shoulders, forcing her steps away from Zieg and keep his inquisitive ears from enjoying their private conversations.

"There was something between you and miss Rydia, then?" Luckyz asked, walking nonchalantly alongside the fox demon.

"I don't know if we can look at it that way ..."

"I'll have to let my imagination work then." the black wolf replied with a cheerful laugh.

"So we can fear the worst ..."

"That's exactly what I told myself when I saw you coming to the camp," the master at arms Reynart interjected, who had also stood nearby throughout the conversation.

"Intimacy obviously doesn't exist in this group," the fox demon retorted with a roll of his eyes.

"Let's say that it's a luxury that can hardly be afforded when one lives in promiscuity. It becomes more than arduous to keep the slightest secret... "

The demon glared at his interlocutor, who just smiled.

"I don't forget how you left our land last time," the older fox added, without flinching. "Let's just hope you don't make a new mistake, now that fate finally gives you this second chance. "

"Oh, don't worry about that, Joseph ..."

Reynart's eyes widened slightly at the hearing of his first name, which he was no longer used to hearing by anyone.

"Nice to see you didn't lose your trust in you. "

The fox quickened his pace, and as he passed by his demonic homolog, he got a painful flick in the middle of his forehead.

"Ouch! Are you nuts ?! "

"That's for making my beloved student suffer. "

Zieg just grumbled without answering. Somehow, he deserved it.

The march of the group was stopped a few minutes later, as they arrived at the edge of the village of Bram. The fog coming from the coast had enveloped the hamlet in a milky white and thick veil. Not a breath of wind to dispel it, and a dead silence reigned. Not the slightest sign of activity.

"Strangely quiet for a village that asked for help this morning," Aliya said suspiciously.

"Keep your eyes open. There is something wrong with this place," Reynart answered soberly, before entering the drawbridge leading on the big, open door, but nobody was there to guard it.

"Are you sure?" The vixen asked, looking for some hope.

"The smell of death is floating in the air," Zieg commented. "I guess we just missed the party."

As he passed by Oce, he paused for a moment and said, "I think you'll find what you came for here. Don't forget our bet. "

And without waiting for his answer, he rejoined Luckyz, the master at arms, as well as the few officers who were advancing beside them.

The bunny just frowned before making a sign to Aliya, who nodded, displaying a determined expression. The two females entered the village without hesitation.

The intuition of Reynart and Zieg was accurate, unfortunately. There was no longer any soul alive in the village of Bram. It didn't mean that it was depopulated, far from it, but that every mammal who lived there had been struck by death as drily as we reap the wheat. Lifeless bodies lay in every corner, along the streets, in the buildings, in a kind of organized disorder, almost as if they were dead one after the other, and the panic movement initiated by this deadly epidemic had been stopped before actually starting.

"What could kill so many people almost instantly?" Aliya questioned, squatted beside a doe's corpse and observing the strange wounds on her body.

It seems that she had been pierced by violent strokes of spear, but the wounds were neat and clean. Even worse, the clothes weren't even torn, just maculated with blood. Only the skin, flesh and organs had been bruised.

"It doesn't make any sense ..." mumbled the corsac vixen in disbelief.

Suddenly, one of the officers standing right next to her gave a strange, horrified cry as his throat opened on its own as if it was stroke by an invisible spear. A stream of blood spurted from his wound, and he didn't even have the time to press his paws against his bruised throat that he was hit by a brutal shock in the chest. Aliya didn't need to see the wound to understand that another hole had formed on the poor victim, hitting him right in the heart.

"Take shelter!" Reynart commanded his troops inquisitively. "What massacred the city is still here! "

While a movement of panic was initiated within the ranks of disorganized Hunters, a hundred meters away, quietly installed in the steeple of Bram Cathedral, stood the ignoble skeletal creature who had previously left his cave in a search of death. She had obviously found what she had looking for, and at the sight of the filthy smile that marked her deformed features, it was clear that a new influx of victims wasn't displeasing her.

The filiform monster brought his doll back against his face, and pressed it gently against his cheek, before whispering to it.

"See, my little darling ... Here are more corpses to add to the pile ..."


	5. The Keeper and the Diviner

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : As usual, we want to thank our amazing editor, ReaderNo31142, Jrh01409 and Cimar-WildeHopps! You guys are amazing and we just love you!**

 **Chapter 4 : The Keeper and the Diviner**

* * *

Panic had seized the Hunters battalion, which was about to relive a much too real recreation of the still-fresh Bram massacre. If the objective of the Dread Puppet was the methodical piling up of corpses, she applied to the task with the sickliest vigor.

The Hunters fell one after the other, struck in their panic by invisible spears of a devastating force. They fluttered in the air like disjointed dolls, their screams barely having time to crack the air before they were breathing their last sighs.

Oce and Zieg crashed under a parapet, amid the corpses of a family, struck by the murderous madness of their demon enemy a few hours earlier. The rabbit's eyes were wide-opened. She was used to facing the most gratuitous violence, but she had never witnessed such a massacre. The fox demon himself was stunned by the situation. His eyes were shaking slightly, and he didn't smile at all.

"Forget our bet, bun," he grumbled. "I've never seen a power like this. "

"What is this demon?" Oce asked in a hoarse voice as a Hunter collapsed in front of her, half of their skull swept away by an invisible spear. "And above all, what is this evil spell? "

"No idea, exactly ..." Zieg replied. "This demon is not a Calamity ... at least not one that I know. Damn, I fucking don't know ... None of the Seven had such power. I have no idea how it works, I can't even tell if it's really a spell! "

"What are we going to do against him, then?"

"Against him?" Zieg exclaimed. "Nothing at all. It will be a good thing if we get out of here in one piece! "

"Out of the question !" exclaimed a feminine voice that joined them in a leap.

The two partners turned a surprised look to Aliya, who joined them, landing hard in the middle of the heap of carcasses that served them as a shelter of misfortune.

"Where are the others ?" Oce asked. "Master Reynart? And Luckyz? "

"If they're lucky, they still have all their limbs ..." Zieg said ironically.

Aliya paid no attention to the fox's foolish remark, looking back at Oce. "They took refuge in the hostel on the other side of the street!"

"Taking cover will only delay the inevitable." the fox explained in a panicked voice. "He kills everyone he sees, yes ... But the people of Bram who were in the buildings were also slaughtered. So he can hit by simply feeling their presence!"

"What ?!" exclaimed Oce. "You sure about that ?"

"Reynart didn't teach you?" Zieg questioned. "Demons can feel the aura of the beings who are exisiting all around them."

" Oh yes!" Aliya exclaimed. "And master taught us to hide it so that we could perfect our assassination techniques."

"Seems like most have forgotten," Zieg muttered darkly as another Hunter fell, ripped in half by an invisible force.

Oce nodded to confirm what her friend said, ignoring Zieg's comment. It had been a long time since she had to use such techniques, and it was a little forgotten from her mind.

"Well, you should revisit your classics, girls ..." Zieg advised. "And do so as discreetly as possible so that we can get away from here."

"I said: out of the question!" Aliya repeated firmly. "This creature has slaughtered an entire village, as well as a good part of our troop. You can't let such a creature act freely, that would put all of Hallow in peril."

"Hallow is in constant peril, you idiot!" countered the fox, before Oce gave him another pinch to calm him down.

"Ouch! No way! Are you nuts?"

"You're way too noisy, Zieg." replied Oce. "And pessimistic, too."

"I am a demon, excuse me for not breathing the joy of life! "

"Hush!" Aliya ordered in a low voice. "It looks like it's calming down ..."

Indeed, the tumult of metallic armor, running, cries of panic and orders bellowed harshly had finally calmed down. Oce risked a glance over the body that hid her, and could only see the worst of the desolations. She withheld a nausea at the sight of the bloody slaughter that was spreading before her eyes. The fate of the inhabitants of Bram had already stained the village with a scarlet setting, but the addition of the dead from the Hunters gave the city the image of a terrible apocalyptic scene. But perhaps it was the Apocalypse that had just begun. A real bloodbath.

Would they really have to compete with a creature capable of causing such ravages without even having to reveal itself?

"Zieg ..." Oce whispered. "You said he could detect us by our auras... You can do the same against him, can't you? "

"No doubt ..." the fox nodded. "This little bastard seems to love carnage ... If I focus on murderous intentions, I should spot him without any difficulty. "

"Go ahead, then."

"I still recommend flight," Zieg reminded.

"No," Aliya countered again firmly. "If you want to let this ignoble creature go, free to you. But I'm staying. I will not let him go on killing more innocent people. "

"Stubborn!" Zieg growled. "Idealists don't make old bones, you know? "

"If there were a little more idealists on earth, maybe they would live longer! "

"Stop arguing, you two," Oce ordered. "We're giving him time to plan the rest of his strategy. It's up to us to counterattack now. "

"As you wish ..." the demon-fox grumbled disapprovingly. "I hope you don't make such a mistake just to win our bet. My scarf is not worth our lives."

Zieg closed his eyes and concentrated. Instinctively, the two females made themselves the most silent and discreet as possible, in order to allow him enjoy a complete calm. They masked their auras as much as they could, so as not to disturb the psychic visualization of the environment of their demonic ally.

The fox remained in this attentive and inert posture for several seconds, before finally reopening his eyes, looking concentrated, but somewhat worried.

"Good or bad news? "

"Don't make us wait and tell us everything," Oce pressed him.

"I spotted him, but to reach him we will have to expose ourselves. "

"What do you mean?" Aliya asked.

"He is in the steeple of the cathedral, at the end of the main street where we are. But it's in the center of a large square, with no cover to reach it from the surrounding buildings. In short, he will kill us as soon as we try to approach."

"How does he attack, according to you?" the bunny asked him.

"Kinds of psychic javelins, or something like that," Zieg replied. "In fact, I'm not sure. It hits too fast to be mere projectiles."

"Then there is only one thing to do," Aliya said. "We all need to get his attention in different directions to give more chance to at least one of us infiltrating the cathedral. "

"I didn't sign on to this to commit suicide," Zieg retorted bluntly.

"You didn't sign at all," countered Oce. "We made a pact, and I ask you to respect it. Otherwise ... you know what's waiting for you. "

The fox winced for a moment before shaking his head.

"Are we still at the threat stage? I hoped that our relations had improved a little bit at least ... "

"We are not in a situation that leaves this to debate, Zieg!" the rabbit explained. "I'm obliged to act accordingly. "

"I love being your little toy."

"A toy with wings!" Aliya affirmed, straightening up, a smug smile on her face. "Take flight, Zieg! You will be more mobile in the air! While he tries to knock you off, we will pass quietly!"

"It's seems you both like making me look like a freaking pigeon? I didn't come here to be the target of a shooter! "

"We don't have a choice, Zieg." Oce insisted. "Even if he touches you, it should not be fatal for you. "

"Well then… "

The fox gauged his two acolytes to see if they were really serious about this perilous, and somewhat suicidal, strategy ... The glare of confidence he read in their eyes was enough to serve as an answer. He sighed contritely, realizing that he would not be able to reason with them.

"Alright ... we do as you want, ladies ..."

* * *

The moment Zieg reached a comfortable flying height, he felt the pressure of the air change a few inches from his face. With a skillful wing stroke, he evaded, dodging just in time as a strange invisible snapping sound somehow created a vacuum a scant few centimeters from his ear. The power of the demon he faced was even worse than he had imagined. He didn't launch projectiles concretely...he literally materialized them out of thin air a short range from his targets, and all in a totally invisible way. But it was still possible to dodge them. The fox still didn't exactly understand how this technique worked, but it was extremely effective. If he hadn't had demonic reflexes, his pretty face would have been nothing more than mash at the moment.

Zieg rushed to the east, feeling the air snap multiple times behind him before they went silent. Zieg guessed his opponent had stopped chasing him, instead trying to anticipate his flight movements, only to realize his worry was well founded as a jolt of pain tore into his shoulder with a spurt of blood. The fox let out a startled cry, grimacing as he glanced down at the ground to check the progress of the females moving towards the cathedral. They were about halfway. For now, their plan was working...but he was just about fed up of playing the scapegoat for these mortals.

The idea of simply running away and leaving them to their fate was very tempting. He would only have to come back a few hours later to recover his heart from the dead rabbit's body.

The air snapped again, two inches from his muzzle, and he was forced to turn around. If he didn't run away, he would end up being killed. His enemy was formidable ... He adjusted the accuracy of his shots with each attack. Very soon, he would not be able to dodge them anymore.

The fox clenched his teeth and shook his head. Escape was his only option. He flapped his wings toward the ground, preparing to fly at a low level in order to use the buildings as cover. The Hunters would have to fend for themselves. A demon was not accountable to anyone, and certainly not to mere mortals.

As this idea was crossing his mind he glanced down and saw Oce, who was engaged in the big square, uncovered. If he got out of reach now, their opponent could easily kill her if he noticed her... In the box hanging on the bunny's belt, his heart was pounding ... But for what reason exactly?

He let out a groan of pain as a snap of air plowed into his back, forcing him closer to the ground. A second one slammed into his calf as he jumped up in the air in panic. He glanced at his leg, but could see only a steady stream of blood. Totally panicked, Zieg didn't notice he was heading straight for the Cathedral. A new shot hit him, directly in the left wing, tearing through it ... The fox lost control, and in a panicked scream, rashed on the top of the bell tower.

"Damn ..." he grumbled, straightening up under the rubble. "One more second and I could have been out of here! "

He tried to spread his wings, but found this to be impossible. The left one was nothing but a mass of flesh and fibers dripping with black blood. Would he ever recover the use of it? He wasn't sure ... His ability to regenerate was extraordinary, but not unlimited. This battle would certainly cost him a lot if he came out alive.

" _Bonjour_ … _Monsieur_ … _Le_ … _Renard_ …"

Zieg turned his head towards the voice, which came from the beams that held the bell tower's dark frame. He didn't distinguish anything at first, but then a mechanical clatter caught his attention. A frightful creature suddenly came into view, slender and sickly, passing from beam to beam by means of its long arms and legs with spider-like movements. The demon had a smiling, playful, and predatory feline face. His dirty, decayed teeth streamed with blood from the wounds they opened inside his own mouth. At the top of his head, two huge red horns, surrounded an old hat, worn to the seams. The demon raised it courteously, in order to salute his victim.

"Allow him to introduce...His humble person...Hihihi...the Dread Doll House..."

"What kind of shit-hole place are you from? "

The puppet uttered a vicious sneer before twisting back, as if his spine had just broken, and with a graceful movement, passed his head under his armpit, before wrapping his long bony fingers around his muzzle.

"First generation...First generation...You were all cowards and losers..."

"I see ... You killed one of the Seven Calamities to take its place, right?" Zieg questioned, clenching fangs. "It was up to me to do that! "

"You don't do anything...You've never done anything...You've never been able to do anything...That's why House decided to act...Because House knows how to do things! "

"You won't be doing anything once you're cremated!"

Accentuating his words, Zieg threw two burning cones of flames from his forearms. But House was possessed of unparalleled agility. The fox barely noticed his disengaging movement, which allowed his long, sinuous limbs to close the gap so quickly that he seemed to appear out of nowhere—suddenly muzzle to muzzle with his opponent.

"Boo! "

Zieg couldn't help but flinch slightly, which seemed to delight the puppet greatly.

"House killed Taurin the Condemner and sent him back to the Underealms that you should never have come back from...Hinhinhin...House is going to kill all the demons, all the mortals, and stack them. Isn't that so, my beauty?"

He grabbed a filthy, disgusting little doll, sutured on all sides, and vaguely resembling the features of a mammal, before rubbing it with a strange affection against his cheek.

"My little darling...My beautiful...Only you understand me..."

"The most dangerous demon I ever met had to be completely crazy..." Zieg commented contrarily, raising an eyebrow.

"House will shut you up. "

The claw slap that threw the fox to the ground was so fast that he couldn't even anticipate it. He felt the terrifying shock, as well as the resilient pain, blood flowing abundantly from his lacerated cheek.

Without answering, Zieg straightened up, hitting his opponent in the chest with his horns. House did nothing to dodge...and it was the fox who screamed in pain, while his abdomen was pierced by two bloody holes. It was as if he had impaled himself, but the doll, for its part, didn't present any injury.

"Hinhinhin...smart guy," House quipped.

The demon grabbed Zieg's throat in an iron grip and threw him against the wall, cutting off his breath. House shambled forward, spreading the fox's scarf with its paw, revealing the gaping hole Zieg had in place of the heart.

"Tick-tock ... Tick-tock ... Where's the Fox's Flesh Clock?" House questioned, turning his head to eighty degrees to face his prey without straightening up.

"But ... But what ... what ... are you?" Zieg stammered with difficulty, House's overpowering paw grinding his throat.

"House is ... the end ... and the renewal ... of Hallow," Calmly replied the feline creature, showing a fang-filled smile.

He plunged his bony paw into Zieg's chest hole, and the fox's eyes widened as he felt the pressure of the air change within in ... House was about to blow up one of his unseen pikes inside his body ...

Realizing that his fate was sealed, Zieg closed his eyes while clenching his fangs. He really should have fled when he had the opportunity.

It was then that an overwhelming shock hit House right in the back. A terrifying sound of breaking wood was heard and Zieg fell heavily to the floor, gasping and spitting blood, as the air rushed back into his compressed trachea.

House, for his part, was projected like a ragged puppet, literally shattering in two under the power of the blow that had hit him by surprise...and it was Aliya who had just knocked him out. She stood there, her eyes wide and pensive, as if she were surprised that her own blow had landed.

"Aliya ... be careful ..." Zieg rasped. "If you hit him, he will turn it against you ..."

"Huh?" the fox asked with a surprised look. "But I'm fine..."

"What?"

Zieg looked up. Indeed, the hunter was unscathed. For some strange reason, House's power had not turned against her.

The puppet, also broken into a myriad of pieces, then gave a little sneer from the disparate pile of clothes, wood and flesh that constituted it.

Aliya rushed towards the debris, but didn't notice anything special...There were only mutilated and shapeless remains of what had been House's body until then. Zieg joined her with a limp, his body nothing but pain. He inspected the remains of the mechanical demon with suspicion, carefully tapping them with the tip of his paw.

"It can't be over yet ..." the fox commented wistfully, before a howl of pain from outside came to confirm that their troubles were, in fact, not over.

* * *

"Oh my god, Zieg!" Oce exclaimed, seeing the mutilated body of the demon appear, supported by Aliya because he wasn't able to move alone.

The bunny ran to the duo that had just left the cathedral. As she reached him, he collapsed, though she caught him up in time, bending slightly under his weight. She could see his totally jagged left wing pounding pitifully behind his back.

"At least...I won my hug...it seems..."

"You idiot..." the bunny muttered, straightening the fox, who decided to hide his demonic face so as not to show the extent of his failure, which he was terribly ashamed of.

"We heard a cry," Aliya intervened. "Is everything alright?"

"The devil has sprung from the Cathedral," Oce explained. "Then he disappeared into an adjacent lane. The cry came from there."

"You didn't go after him?" Zieg asked in a petty tone.

"I'm reckless but not suicidal...and I had to stay with these poor people."

She pointed to a group of townspeople hiding in the shadow of the big building.

"We found them when we crossed the threshold of the cathedral. I stayed with them to give them first aid...some are between life and death. "

At the same time, Luckyz and Reynart, along with several surviving Hunters, joined the trio in the center of Bram's square.

"Are you OK?" inquired the black wolf, breathless.

"Yes, more or less..." Aliya replied before turning to face Zieg. "But he...he is in a bad state."

"Let me see your wounds, Zieg," Reynart immediately intervened, yet the fox pushed him away, obviously preferring to take care of himself alone.

The master of arms grimaced before returning his attention to his students. "Where is the demon? "

"He fled in that direction," Oce said.

"That trash can recreate himself a body, it seems..." Zieg grumbled, spitting bloody phlegm on the floor. "I have never seen a demon of this nature before. I don't know where he comes from, but he has what it takes to be a Calamity," he said. "Easily," he added with a grumble.

"That's not reassuring," Reynart concluded, carrying his paw on the sheath of his sword. "It would be better to go after him as long as we can follow him."

"Given the screams he leaves in his wake, it will be without difficulty," commented the fox demon. "You will only have to follow the corpses."

"I don't think that's funny, Zieg..." Aliya shook her head. "Can you move alone, or do you need help from..."

"I don't need to be mothered, damn it!" shouted the fox. "Give me a break! I don't want your fucking help!"

He glared at Oce, shifting his attention to her.

"It didn't bother you that much to send me to be massacred! So stop pretending to care an inkling about my carcass now that the party is over!"

Oce's eyes widened, her ears falling down to her back. Zieg's anger had only grown since he had faced this demon. The backlash coming from the humiliation of being beaten by one of his peers, certainly. The bunny lowered her head, looking for the best way to calm her partner.

"Zieg, I..."

"Not worth it." The fox cut her reply short. "All you have to do is to follow up on that damn doll, I'll join you when I've regenerated."

"You're not going to take advantage of it to break our agreement, right?"

The fox was silent for a few seconds, remembering that he had almost done just that about ten minutes ago.

"You have my heart as a guarantee, remember?" he finally said with disdain. "Then get after him."

The bunny, distressed, looked away, before starting to leave, taking Aliya by the arm to encourage her to follow in her movement. The corsac vixen had a sympathetic look for her friend, before turning and lowering her head. The rest of the group followed, leaving Zieg behind.

The demon waited until his allies were out of sight before finally collapsing to the ground, half-conscious. He had retained his last strength to hold a few more moments on his feet ... But now, he had nothing more than the bitter taste of defeat.

* * *

As Ziegelzeig had predicted, the Dread Doll House wasn't hard to follow...he had his own, telltale way of leaving marks. Whenever the group passed near an isolated farm or hamlet, they found corpses or wounded mammals. This demon seemed particularly cheerful when it came to taking lives, and his bloody route was heading straight north.

They followed his trail for half a day, before finally losing it on the edge of the Dark Valley, an ancestral and wilderness woodland, guarded by a traditionalist branch of the Hunters' organization, the Shadow Hunters. They lived in the woods in organized tribes, and seldom interfered with the affairs of the other groups of the Order. They had their own centuries-old rites and methods to lead the great battle of mortals against the forces of darkness.

Before crossing the edge of the black forest, made still darker by the twilight that marked the horizon, Reynart straightened his paw, ordering his allies to stop.

"We don't enter these lands as we wish," the fox said. "You have to be invited. "

"And who distributes the invitations?" Luckyz asked in a laughing tone.

"It's me," a deep voice answered, springing up behind the black wolf, who jumped up, uttering a yelping cry of terror.

All turned to face one of the hunters of the guarding wood tribe. It was a coyote of tall stature, blue-eyed and scrutinizing. He wore a simple, but functional, hunting tunic, and red, ritual paintings marked his coat, especially around his eyes, drawing like a kind of mask. A bow was attached to his back beside a quiver with arrows; a tomahawk and a stalking knife fixed to his belt, completing his equipment. His muscular figure left no doubt concerning his martial abilities.

"A very eclectic group than yours," the coyote commented. "What are you doing on the lands of my people? "

"Um ... nothing that goes against your rules," Aliya replied softly, expressing her natural timidity towards strangers.

"We are chasing a particularly dangerous demon, and we're almost sure he has entered those woods," added Oce, eager to be honest with their interlocutor.

"Never could a demon infiltrate our borders without the spirits of our ancestors informing us."

"What? Sp ... Spirits?" Luckyz questioned, visibly scared.

"Yes ... They continue their existence in the nature that constitutes our lands. Trees, mountains, water and wind," explained the coyote. "We are able to commune with them, and the slightest irregularity they feel on this territory would be transmitted to our shamans and medicine mammals. So it's a safe bet that your demon has bypassed the Valley."

"He doesn't have a proper body," Reynart explained. "The little flesh that constitutes it shouldn't be easily detectable. The rest is only cogs, wood...and impious magic."

The coyote paused for a moment, then sighed. "It would be better to be certain, indeed."

He then started to walk towards the edge of the wood, making a sign to encourage the other mammals to follow him.

"My name is Ake'cheta. I'm a Hunter of the Order of the Shadow Hunters."

The others introduced themselves, summarizing overall where they came from and the hardships that had brought them here.

"I understand the disturbance that this strange creature represents for you, this...House," Ake'cheta concluded, nodding. "If, as you say, he has been able to escape the perception of the spirits, it would be better to consult the diviner, to whom his presence ought not have escaped."

"After the spirits, a diviner now?" Luckyz asked, scanning the dark, thick forest all around him, through which the coyote was guiding them as if he knew every corner of it. "And who is this mysterious individual? "

"You may not appreciate what you will discover by meeting him...but you must understand that on these lands, our ancestral laws prevail over yours, and that our judgment is law."

"I have the feeling that the worst is to be feared..." whispered Aliya to Oce's attention.

"You have nothing to fear from him, as long as you show respect," corrected Ake'cheta, whose most sensitive hearing hadn't lost anything of the murmurings of the corsac vixen. She became red to the ears, embarrassed that her doubts were perceived by their guide.

The coyote chuckled, reassuring her. "Don't worry ... Lord Dagonn has never eaten anyone...yet. "


	6. The Lost Wolf and the Desert Melody

**Oce and Zieg notes : We will never say it enough! A deep thank you to our editor, ReaderNo31142, Jrh01409 and Cimar-WildeHopps! We owe you so much!**

 **Chapter 5: The Lost Wolf and the Desert Melody**

* * *

Ake'cheta guided the group into a more humid and dark area of the forest, which took long, tiring hours of walking. Oce, Luckyz, and Aliya had asked the coyote some questions about the so-named Dagonn, but their guide was very elusive, preferring to tell them they would have all the answers when they met The Diviner.

Only Reynart had remained silent, quietly musing to himself since the revelations made by the Shadow Hunter. If Oce had noticed his reserved attitude, she hadn't dared to make the slightest remark about it...but to see her master so serious made her think that they might well have new trouble quite soon.

As the environment grew thicker and gloomier, their thoughts also darkened as well. Even Luckyz didn't appear in the mood for clowning around, and Aliya's usual playfulness had given way to a contrite silence and a slightly anxious face, too.

"You're feeling okay?" Oce finally asked her friend, taking her aside. "You seem worried..."

"It's because of this doll...he's going to kill again," Aliya explained sadly. "It's my fault. I thought I got rid of it, but I was not careful. Now, if this demon still kills, I would feel responsible for it. Just like I feel responsible for all the deaths in the villages we've passed since."

Oce remained silent for a moment, content to stroke the vixen's shoulder, which turned her head towards her. The rabbit offered her a sincere, comforting smile.

"This is the daily life of all Hunters, and you know it," Oce reassured her. "It may be a failure, but it's the first one you've faced after all these years, which makes you an excellent Huntress. And the fact that you feel guilty also makes you an excellent mammal."

"You're probably right...but I will not rest until I've destroyed this monster."

"And I'll help you to take care of it, trust me."

The two females exchanged a determined glance and resumed a more relaxed walk, Oce even allowing herself to jump with enthusiasm and engage in a less arduous subject of conversation.

"But tell me, by the way, how was this trip on the continent? You met any new mammals or make any new friends?"

At this unexpected question, Aliya lowered her head gently and could not prevent a blush from rising to her cheeks. The bunny soon realized it, and she gave a little satisfied cry, before turning suddenly towards her, stopping the progress of her friend.

"Oh, I don't believe it! I saw that blush! Tell me, I want to know everything...!"

"I...uh...he...his name is Siljan and..."

The vixen was stammering too much to be able to express herself clearly, even after she took out a charming engraved pendant that she kept preciously in one of her travel bags.

"He gave me this before I left..." Aliya explained, now as red as a peony.

"It's beautiful..." exclaimed Oce admiring the jewel. "I'm so happy for you! You deserve it!"

"He promised to come to join me here as soon as he has settled some...business on the continent. I told him that Hallow would be a safer land when he arrives, but I feel like I'm breaking my promise."

"Stop seeing everything in black!" Oce huffed. "You're starting to look and act like me, the Darkbunbun!" countered the bunny. "We will do what it takes to keep your promise safe and fulfilled."

Aliya nodded, re-motivated by her friend to overcome all the obstacles that would stand in front of her.

At the same moment, Ake'cheta made them stop near a stream that had been flowing from a thick, rumbling waterfall.

"We have arrived," the hunter affirmed.

"For a dip?" Luckyz asked before feeling the water with the tip of his paw. He found it certainly cold, as he began to shiver like jelly near instantly.

Ake'cheta shot him a sidelong glance before shaking his head.

"No, of course not..." he replied seriously. "Lord Dagonn lives in a temple dug in the cavern behind this waterfall. Usually, we only consult him in cases of emergency. He is a placid being who doesn't like to be disturbed. His long mediations allow him to foresee the future, but he confides his visions only to those whom he judges to be worthy."

"And that's your case, I hope?" Luckyz questioned. "I'm afraid I'm not up to it..."

"Be more confident, Luckyz," Oce reassured him, patting him on the back. "Without you, I wouldn't even be here right now."

"Go consult this so-called diviner," Reynart advised. "For my part, I'm going to patrol the area, just in case our enemy is near."

Ake'cheta cast a wary eye on the master of arms. "You don't trust me?"

"That's not the issue..." replied the fox soberly. "Our enemy is vicious and discreet. He could even be stalking us right now. No need to take more unnecessary risks. We've already lost enough friends against that monster."

"This area of the forest is an ancient territory, sacred to the eyes of my people," Ake'cheta replied. "But regardless...I trust you."

Reynart merely nodded. Aliya was quiet for a moment. The dark and closed attitude of her master somewhat worried her, but she didn't dare question him about it, any more than Oce would on the matter. Both students respected their instructor too much for that. In their eyes, he was like a father. This was all the more true for Oce, who had more than conflictual relationships with her parents, as well as her family in general.

* * *

The interior of the cavern hidden by the waterfall rapidly transformed itself, as Ake'cheta had explained, into a kind of temple carved into the rock, one of colossal dimensions. It sank into the damp pit of the earth, the churning water of the waterfall cascading into the depths, making the rock slimy and slippering. The rare luminous reflections created a strange and shimmering atmosphere, revealing at times, in the darkest corners, the grimacing faces of Chthonian entities, watching over this place which was filled with the mysteries from ages past.

"This temple gives me goosebumps," Luckyz moaned, waving his torch and taking great care to keep his flame as dazzling as possible. "Imagine being in the dark, with spiders ... or worse ... snakes! I hate reptiles ... "

Ake'cheta sneered at hearing this remark. "We have almost arrived..."

The coyote stopped in front of an immense, half-collapsed arch, intertwined by the gigantic roots of a several-hundred-year-old tree. They didn't know exactly what level of depth they were underground, but the atmosphere was more and more eerie.

"Will you stay on my doorstep or decide to enter?" A sibilant and gritty voice came from the damp darkness that made up the inside of the hall.

Luckyz uttered the shrill cry of a beaten dog at the hearing of that voice coming out of the abyss.

"A snake! I'm sure it's a fucking snake!"

"A Komodo dragon, if you please."

Ake'cheta gave Luckyz a low, but well-felt elbow, before sighing tiredly. "What did I say about respect, wolf?"

Placing his two shaking paws against his mouth, Luckyz apologized before stammering. "Excuse me, Lord Komodo...Don't eat me, please...I'm sure I'm not delicious at all..."

Oce gave a small laugh before following Ake'cheta into the high hall, Aliya on her heels and Luckyz closing the door, his distraught gaze scanning every dark corner of the room.

"Sorry to disturb your meditations, Lord Dagonn," Ake'cheta said towards the back of the room. "But these strangers require your knowledge. They say a dangerous individual may have infiltrated our lands."

"I already know..." the voice answered.

A purplish glow briefly illuminated the space before bursting into a shimmering sheaf of fantastical light. A veritable thunder of purple and unhealthy flames burst forth from a mouth full of fangs, similar to those of the predatory fishes of the depths, and fell down on a brazier located at the bottom of a series of steps giving access to the stone repository on which was installed the so-called Dagonn.

Before them was a colossal-sized reptile wrapped in a long red jute cape. He was so much larger than any other creature that Oce had ever seen before... The entity stretched forth two huge membranous, purple-colored wings, echoing the flames that now lit up the place.

"One of the Seven Calamities..." the rabbit mumbled before turning a worried look at Ake'cheta. "What does this mean?"

"Demon or not, it doesn't matter to the Shadows Hunters," Ake'cheta explained. "The natural balance of things is our only priority. Lord Dagonn has been protecting these lands just like us, since time immemorial. Our ancestors were already relying on his judgment many centuries ago. We are not questioning a trust that has been established beyond our own mortal lives."

"But...but..." Aliya stammered, still dazed. "It's contrary to the principles of the Order!"

"We allied with Zieg, too," Oce said. "We were six years ago, and we still are today. Who are we to judge them?"

"Mortals and demons are just as harmful as each other," Dagonn interjected, smiling calmly. "Harmony is a delicate balance that is more than difficult to achieve. At our level, we are all trying to just make it work. It's the troubled agents who seek to collapse this balance that should be neutralized. This is what most Hunters seem to have trouble understanding."

"The amalgam made between Good and Evil is a Manichean constant to which we refuse to bend," Ake'cheta added. "On the principle of cooperation among all virtuous forces, we have been able to protect these lands from evil for generations. Our tribe acquiesces in the rules of the Order without really adhering to them. Our principles and laws are our only guides."

"It's a fundamental truth that goes back to the very origins of the chaos that reigns over these lands ..." Dagonn confirmed. "There are ages. The Creator sent the First Generation of Demons to these land long ago. The original Seven Calamities, corrupt and vicious beings, intended to test the moral purity of mortals, to verify whether they were worthy of being dignified creations of the divinity at the origin of their existence. But rather than pushing mortals to vice, as the Creator had hoped, these demonic entities eventually cherished them and even loved them. They were fascinated by all the emotions that mortals could radiate and by the simple beauty that emanated from them. Thus, some of them united with mortals, which gave rise to hybrids with formidable powers, such as myself."

"This situation had disastrous consequences..." Ake'cheta added. "But it's at the origin of the natural order that sets the rules of the world in which we live. And that's what my tribe seeks to protect. Not all demons are evil. No more than mortals. They are part of this world, just like us."

The other three mammals were silent and thoughtful. However, Oce finally spoke again.

"My father delivered the same speech as you. It was almost fatal to him. "

"Nothing is ever stable or easy, let alone black or white. This is true for the struggle between demons and mortals, as for the principles we choose to follow. Or those whom we choose to trust."

Oce looked away, clearly understanding who Dagonn was referring to.

"Yes, the fox demon of the First Generation is a free electron, isn't it? He is on his way to join you, moreover, if that can reassure you."

The bunny's ears straightened despite her efforts to not show too much clear euphoria at the news. "It's true?"

"Is that why you have come to use my time? Not that it's precious, it's been four years since I've had a visitor. Not that it bothers me, though. I love the tranquility and humidity of my den."

"We...we're not going to take advantage of your hospitality, are we girls?" Luckyz urged.

"House, the demonic doll..." said Aliya, still motivated to reduce her adversary to nothing. "He's hiding in the valley, isn't he? "

"He's looking for you," Dagonn replied, scrutinizing the intensity of his dark flames. "He has recovered all his strength while you pursued him, and he wants as much as you, a new confrontation. If you don't get him first, he will attack your tribe without hesitation, Ake'cheta. "

The fangs of the coyote tightened abruptly at the hearing of this information, and his fist tightened around his tomahawk.

"Where can I find this demon?" the Hunter asked. "We don't have a minute to lose."

"He'll find you..." Dagonn replied with amusement. "He is on your trail. He sniffs your auras better than a hungry dog..."

"Master Reynart!" Aliya breathed. "We must quickly join him, he may be in danger! What weapon would be effective to overcome such a creature?! I'll be ready to do anything to destroy it! "

"Anything?" Repeated Dagonn, sneering. "Even to sacrifice your own life?"

Aliya forbade herself from answering, fearing that this was the future that Dagonn was seeing for her.

The reptile seemed to sense her confusion and shrugged.

"The future is a ball of yarn whose lines are not easily disentangled. What I see is a tiny patch of millions of possibilities. Everything remains in the choices you make and the risks you are willing to incur to achieve your ends. A little choice here or there and an entire ball can unravel or be created anew."

"So you can't tell us anything about how to destroy House?" Oce questioned.

"I don't know who he is, let alone what he is. The future in which this creature exists never appeared to me before. It is strange – but also fascinating at the same time. I am curious to find out how all this will end. "

"A wise council maybe?" Ake'cheta said, literally vibrating with rage.

"Avoid direct contact. That's all."

At these words, the purple flames began to fade, testifying to the fact that the great reptile no longer intended to give more time to his interlocutors.

Ake'cheta, anxious for his tribe, was not lost in polite words and contented himself with running back outside, Luckyz following him. Aliya, anxious for Reynart, politely thanked the reptilian demon, before leaving the place on her companions heels.

Only Oce remained, who obviously still had a question to ask.

"I'm listening." murmured Dagonn, whose red eyes still gleamed in the darkness.

"Is he going to betray me again?"

"He has already done it in the past. If you offer him the opportunity, you can be sure he will do it again. And you...you will suffer even more."

A slight smile cracked the bunny's lips, who lowered her head before sighing sadly. "I see… "

Having let go of these words, she left the great hall with quick steps, without turning around, letting the master of the house again appreciate the calm and darkness to which he aspired.

"Ah, love...too bad these two have no future together..." Dagonn finally concluded, just for himself.

* * *

As soon as Aliya had left the cave, she began looking for Reynart.

"Master!" She called. "Master! Where are you?"

"Silence." Ake'cheta ordered, who had scarcely emerged from Dagonn's lair, had begun to track down their adversary. "The smell of blood is in the air. "

"B ... Blood?" Luckyz mumbled, unsheathing his sword.

As Oce joined them, Ake'cheta straightened, motioning for them to follow. "This way!"

They ran through grassy banks and thick bushes until they reached a forested area with thick old trees, erected in a myriad of leafy columns. At the foot of one of them, Reynart lay, a paw against his mutilated chest, streams of uncontrollable blood gushing between his fingers which were tightened with pain.

He glimpsed Aliya running towards him in panic, and held out his good paw in the hope of stopping her run.

"Aliya, no! He's there!"

But this warning proved useless, for House's bony grip closed around the throat of the vixen, throwing her to the side several meters away. It was House's right arm that had grabbed her. The rest of his body wasn't even around.

"What is this madness?" Luckyz exclaimed. "It can split into several more pieces? Is he a lego mammal?"

These were the only words that the black wolf could utter before being assaulted by the doll's remaining arm, which hit him directly in the face, throwing him backward into the brook that flowed below.

"Aliya! Luckyz!" Oce shouted, caught unawares while unsheathing her crossbow.

Ake'cheta was on alert, but he didn't have to wait long until his opponent revealed himself to them.

Letting himself fall from the branches of a tree about ten meters away, the doll deprived of both arms crashed to the ground with a strident crack, before standing up in the manner of a battered puppet. He turned his disgusting eyes full of hatred towards his prey.

"How good it is to kill...Is it not true, my dear...?"

His gaze slid in the direction of the loathsome doll on his belt, and he uttered an absolutely terrifying mechanical sneer.

"Do not...do not attack him," Reynart warned, grinding his teeth. "He will turn it against you."

"We won't have much room to maneuver in that case..." said Ake'cheta, hearing of this information.

"Let's check this from a distance, then!" Oce shouted, taking the risk of making a framed shot, which hit the doll at a non-vital point on the calf. The arrow sank into the straw and the wood that formed the creature. The bunny squeezed her teeth awaiting the pain to come...

She blinked. "What?" She didn't feel any pain, nor did she seem to have suffered any repercussions, to the great surprise of Reynart.

"You took a big risk by doing that," Ake'cheta declared to the attention of his providential combat partner.

"It doesn't make sense..." Reynart stammered. "Unless…"

The master of arms didn't have time to advance his theory as House gave a sadistic laugh, before leaning forward abruptly. Instinctively, the coyote and the bunny felt the change in the pressure of the air in front of their faces. They threw themselves to the side, dodging the two invisible projectiles that split the air, barely missing from reducing them to lint. The trees behind them literally exploded, one collapsing to one side, nearly crushing poor Oce, who dodged the worst with a clever roll. She jumped immediately behind this providential cover, while a new invisible shot burst the bark of another tree located a few steps to her right.

"Ake'cheta!" shouted the bunny. "Hide your aura and find cover. We may be able to attack him by surprise if he doesn't see us coming!"

The coyote nodded and jumped up behind a tree, leaving a deathly silence on the battlefield, only disturbed by the rattles and grumblings of Aliya and Luckyz, still engaged with the detached arms of the doll, which acted visibly on their own.

"Oh, you want to play hide and seek with House. But this is a game that House doesn't like...He prefers to play, catch me if you can...Hinhin. "

The puppet looked ruthlessly at Reynart, who in his state had not been able to hide.

"I start with you!" he shouted, before throwing himself at full speed towards his target.

Reynart grasped the pommel of his sword, ready to defend his life dearly. Even without his arms, House didn't lack of secret mechanisms to mutilate his victims. Two huge, scythe blades spread out from behind his back with a mechanical clatter.

Reynart managed to repulse the first attack, but in his state, the second would be fatal...

But Oce intervened, unable to see her master in danger. She parried the second scythe blade with her long dagger, sliding it to the side. The weapon sliced through her shoulder, but the bunny ignored the pain, and straightened her crossbow to fire directly into her enemy.

But this time, she suffered the full backlash of House's curse. A stinging pain twisted her side, as if her own arrow had pierced her. She felt the sticky heat of the blood flowing down her coat. Her wound was not imaginary any more than the one that marked her shoulder.

A click then came to the rabbit's mind.

"My blood ... He curses us with blood!" She exclaimed. "Ake'cheta! He turns back our attacks if he manages to hurt us beforehand!"

"Malignant little bun." House winced, straightening his two huge scythes, ready to use them to slaughter his prey. "Too bad that House slaughters you while you use your brain for the first time!"

The puppet slammed its double blades on Oce, but she still had resources. She parried the most brutal blow with her crossbow and didn't hesitate to launch herself directly between the legs of her enemy, taking advantage of being much smaller than him to get out of reach. She then put him in a leg-wrench, knocking House to the ground, wincing as she suffered the pain of the fall as if she had herself been a victim of it. It left her gasping for breath, unable to do anything more. Taking profit of this advantage wouldn't serve any purpose. If she attacked her enemy, she would pay the price.

"Agile. Agile little prey," House sneered as he escaped from Oce's grip in a serpentine move, his dislocated limbs allowing him to roam with supernatural rapidity...

But the demon didn't have time to recover as a well-placed tomahawk hit him right in the back. The puppet uttered a cry of amazement as he turned his face towards Ake'cheta, who had just burst from behind the thick tree trunk. The hunter didn't take the risk of getting the slightest scratch and jumped out of reach...Yet there was no real safe distance from House, who immediately counterattacked with his invisible projectiles.

"Shit ..." stammered the hunter, forced to pounce again under cover before yelling over the log. "You think you have no weakness, but you don't fight on good ground if you have the hope to defeat me."

"House massacre where he wishes. He massacres who he wishes. He will stack corpses up to heaven!"

The dread doll punctuated each of his words with a new, invisible shot against the tree behind which the coyote was hiding, splitting the wood of the hundred-year-old tree a little more each time, until it finally protruded and collapsed.

Ake'cheta, kneeling at the stump, closed his eyes and concentrated his mind to echo with his elders who'd passed on before and now permeated this earth, and with whom he maintained relationships of millennial respect.

"Give me your strength, my ancestors."

He opened his eyes, now sparkling with a spectral bluish glow, and an impalpable emanation began to trickle down from his chest, creating a cloud of opaque fog, which sparkled with a wan glow.

House saw the glow and tilted his head to the side, obviously intrigued. He thought he saw Ake'cheta leave his cover, and immediately attacked. To see a form of specter vaporized in the air, similar in appearance to the hunter he fought, but which remained impalpable. All around the doll, similar specters began to appear, surrounding him without leaving him any room for maneuver.

"Interesting ..." croaked House.

This was his last word, before Ake'cheta's astral projections slashed down their spectral weapons through his carcass, literally reducing it to a heap of woodchips, from which barely escaped a dying sneer…

The coyote appeared in the midst of the spirits he had invoked, thanking them respectfully with a distinctive ritual sign, before seeing them scatter in the air in the manner of small evanescent clouds.

Ake'cheta returned to his allies, arriving to Reynart at the same time as Luckyz and Aliya, who had been relieved of the harassment of House's arms when the doll had been defeated.

"That was close...A little more, and I could say goodbye to my beautiful tail." Luckyz huffed. "It's the best piece of me, probably the most delicious."

The black wolf winked at Ake'cheta. "You're the best, my brother. Thank you for everything! My poor tail is forever grateful to you. "

He wanted to hug him, but the coyote dodged the hug to lean over Reynart, letting Luckyz plummet to the ground to meet the mossy forest floor.

While Oce was helping her lupine friend to get up, Aliya was hurrying to her master, to whom Ake'cheta was already applying first aid.

"Is it serious?" asked the corsac vixen.

"Yes, a little too much for my modest healing skills..." Ake'cheta confessed.

"It looks like it's the end of the adventure for me," wheezed Reynart, smiling tiredly.

"Ah! No, unacceptable! We're not far from the Silentwind border. I'll bring you home, and I forbid you to challenge my decision!"

"I don't think I have the strength, anyway..."

The vixen sat up, anxious beyond belief. "Luckyz, Oce...are you coming with us?"

"No, Aliya. I have to go back to the border to find Zieg. He must be waiting for us there. Our steps will certainly lead us to Silentwind in short time. We will meet there. In the meantime, take good care of Master Reynart."

Aliya nodded, knowing she had no time to lose if she wanted to save her master from unnecessary suffering.

Ake'cheta turned to the bunny, and nodded to thank her for her help in battle. "Let me take you to the edge of the Valley. But my tribe will offer you hospitality tonight, to recover from these wounds."

The rabbit was too exhausted to have the will to refuse, but it was Luckyz who answered first.

"Oh yes, and offer us something to eat too, for pity's sake? But... just a question...you don't poop in the woods, right? Do you have real toilets? I need the comfort of paper, I don't like the wild leaves...my poor buttocks is sensitive, and certainly succulent."

Ake'cheta exchanged a disconcerted glance with Oce, who just shook her head and laughed uncontrollably.

"I think his meeting with Judge Arten traumatized him..."

* * *

In the early morning, Ake'cheta led them to the edge of the forest, exactly where they had first met. The night of rest spent in the village of the Shadow Hunters had done the greatest good to Oce and Luckyz, although the last one, to his horror, finally had to face the discomfort of the wild toilets, which animated long nighttime conversations by the fireside.

"I'm leaving you here, my friends," Ake'cheta said. "These lands are under my watch, and I thank you for helping me protect them. You will always be welcome by the Shadows Hunters."

"Thank you, Ake'cheta," Oce answered courteously. "It was an honor to fight at your side."

"See'ya bro!" Luckyz let out his fist in the hope of exchanging a fist-bump with his new coyote friend, but this one didn't understand the gesture and simply clenched his fist, to the dismay of the poor wolf.

Once the coyote had returned to his charge of guardian of the valley, Oce and Luckyz went up the western border of the forest, and after a half-hour they finally stumbled upon Zieg, asleep as a blessed babe in the middle of a grassy and flowered slope. He would have looked almost cute if his half-open mouth had not revealed his terrifying fangs.

"Hi Mr. Fox!" Luckyz groaned, pulling the demon out of his sleep.

"Ah, here you are finally," Zieg said, straightening up.

He glanced around before asking. "Where are the others? Have they finally met their fate?"

"They left for Silentwind, to heal Master Reynart's wounds," Oce replied. "House is dead, by the way."

"Ah! Good riddance," Zieg grumbled, unwilling to give more importance than necessary to the damn puppet. "In the meantime, I've found you a new target...one of the Seven Calamities, and a demon from the First Generation, on top of that. Are you up to the task? "

"Personally, I'll be more up for a BBQ day and chocolate sandwiches," Luckyz replied disappointedly.

"Let's not waste time and just let's go," Oce said.

"So, are we in a hurry?" Zieg questioned. "You didn't even ask if I was ok?"

The bunny glanced at him and noticed that he was no longer showing his wings. Yet his horns and flame were there. She closed her eyes, refusing to worry about him, remembering the warning Dagonn had given her.

"You haven't even mentioned my mechanical paw since your return. Why should I inquire about your fate? Anyway, you always make it out…"

"Hey!" Zieg hailed, reaching for Oce to gently grab her by the arm. "What's wrong with you suddenly?"

The bunny dodged the gesture, bringing her paw closer to herself and looking away.

"Guide us, please. We have already lost enough time as it is."

Zieg was quiet for a few seconds, before finally nodding silently and taking the lead. Luckyz found nothing to say to alleviate the atmosphere. Not that he wasn't used to it, but he really felt like it wasn't the right time...

* * *

"Come back here right now, you dirty little ball of fur!" Exclaimed the blue-skinned wolf wearing dark, reptilian leather armor. It was a Desert Hunter, a specialized troupe of the Hallow Heart, whose charge was the care of the inhospitable lands of the desert.

The mammal had shining eyes of a strange red and gold glow, but apart from that, his solid stature made him appear mostly an athletic, and visibly trained, mammal.

Nevertheless, he was struggling to catch up with a strange, little, sand-colored creature, looking like a fennec, but with big red eyes, split with an Ophidian pupil. The little being was wearing a tunic adapted to life in the desert, and despite the various scars on the left side of his face, and his somewhat shabby ear, his presence seemed to exude the joy of living.

A strangely adorned lute occupied his paws, and he played a deceptive tune while running gaily, the hunter following him. The notes of the instrument seemed ironically to adapt to the frantic pace of their chase.

"You're a little too heavy from my point of view, Hunter. I'll make you eat sand!"

Adding a raised finger gesture to the word, the little demon jumped in the air and began to float at the mercy of a dust devil that seemed to respond to his musical notes.

"A bolero of the sandstorm, just for you! It will take you a few hours to return to your barracks if you find your way one day!"

Grinning at his own provocation, the fennec chained a furious series of notes on his lute, and almost instantly, a violent, dry wind rose, lifting the sand under it with unexpected force.

The blue-haired wolf stopped his run, understanding that he was going to suffer the violence of a first gust of harsh weather. The sky was turning black under the influence of the bewitching music of the mocking spirit he was hunting.

Soon, the Fennec demon disappeared amid the waves of dust, and the hunter erupted from the sandstorm, sputtering and staggering...backtracking to get away from the disaster area as soon as possible. Coughing and covered with sand from the tips of his ears to his paw pads, he shook his coat furiously, to get rid of the dusty mass that covered him.

"Little bastard, I'll get you. I swear!"


	7. The Master and the Shipper

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : Once again we want to thanks our editor team : ReaderNo31142, Jrh01409 and Cimar-WildeHopps!**

 **Chapter 6: The Master and the Shipper**

* * *

The wind that had risen sharply drove the desert sand in the direction of Oce, Zieg, and Luckyz. The poor mammals had not even concretely taken a step into the region of Hallow Heart, yet this arid and inhospitable country was already giving them a warm welcome.

"How could the wind pick up so fast?" Oce asked, coughing slightly. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"This storm is not natural..." Zieg explained. "It's certainly Michael's work, the Calamity I told you about!"

"Do you know him personally, that one?" Luckyz asked as he pulled up his blue scarf against his muzzle to protect himself from the invasive sand.

"He is from the First Generation, just like Samael and I. Of the original Seven Calamities, it seems to me that only three of us remain today..."

"If he's able to unleash sandstorms of this magnitude, I guess he will not be easy to eliminate..." Oce stammered while shielding her paws to protect herself from the wind.

Zieg said nothing, just looking away. If the sand wasn't particularly irritating for him, he was not necessarily keen to participate in the killing of one of his brothers. However, Michael hadn't hesitated to betray him six years earlier, just like each of the other seven Calamities. He had been lenient with Samael, his unstable psychological state playing on the fox's emotions, but the little demonic fox of the desert had no excuses, for what he did. And at the sight of the meteorological conditions he was now imposing on them, he had obviously lost nothing of his mischievous and annoying side.

"Hey, friends!" Luckyz shouted, pointing at the skyline. "Are there snowmen in the sand? "

The other two scanned the place indicated by the black wolf, and actually saw a dark mammalian figure, almost buried under the sand. Oce didn't lose a moment and rushed towards the victim of the weather, letting herself slide by their side. Here, the wind was even more violent and aggressive, and the bunny felt like she was choking every time she took a breath. She was soon joined by her two traveling companions. Zieg, who wasn't worried about the surrounding conditions, undid his scarf and wrapped it around the bunny's face, to shelter her from the battering wind and sand.

"We're even now concerning this stupid bet."

Oce gave him a look of gratitude but didn't answer, quickly looking away to see if the blue-tinted wolf lying in the sand was still alive.

"He's breathing," the bunny said. "And at the sight of his outfit, he looks like one of the hunters of the desert!"

"We could let him die here, in that case..." Zieg grumbled. "Nobody would realize it."

"Luckyz, come to help me get him out of here, please?" the bunny said, totally ignoring the cynical remark of the fox.

The black wolf nodded, showing unprecedented seriousness and efficiency, and it didn't take long before the hunter was removed from his sand prison.

"We came across a hamlet about a mile south," Luckyz reminded them. "Let's take him there as we will not get very far with this storm, anyway. Better to turn around."

"If we follow the storm, we will find the one who is at its origin," Zieg advised.

"Let's go to the hamlet, Luckyz," Oce agreed, ignoring the fox-demon again, who raised a dubious eyebrow at the reaction of his hunting partner.

Luckyz nodded, helping the rabbit lift the unconscious wolf.

"We'll have to drag him down there?" he complained, laughing softly.

"I'm afraid so, Luckyz ..." Oce confirmed, pawing the back of the desert hunter to support him with Luckyz's help.

"Don't count on me to support his carcass..." Zieg said, crossing his arms, looking detached from the evolving situation.

"That's good..." Oce replied. "When it comes to helping mortals, we don't expect anything from you anyway."

And without giving him time to answer anything, she began to move south, Luckyz following her in motion, their bulky load on the shoulders. Zieg frowned at Oce's attitude but didn't add anything, just following his companions, whose silhouettes were already disappearing into the swirling sand caused by the storm.

* * *

"Do you think it was a good idea to let Luckyz take care of the booking of the rooms?" Zieg questioned, leaning against the wooden wall of the "Astrelle", the one and only lodging of the small desert village in which they had taken refuge.

Here, only a few windy squalls served as reminders of the sandstorm they had just escaped. Oce, who watched over the comfort of the blue-haired wolf who they had laid upon an iron bench next to the inn, turned her face towards him. The fox's scarf was still wrapped around her neck.

"Of course, he's a mammal I trust. I preferred to watch over him..." she said, extending her paw to the desert hunter. "He may have information about our target. He wasn't there by chance."

"Or maybe he had simply gone astray in the desert?"

"He's a Desert Hunter, given his outfit. These mammals know Hallow Heart like the back of their paws. It's impossible that he has lost his way...and considering his build, as well as the leather of his armor, he is an experienced fighter."

In front of the dubious expression of the fox, Oce sighed. "Trust me, for once."

"If you decide to return the courtesy one day. Don't think I haven't noticed your little fuss since this morning."

"I don't want to talk about that for now," replied the bunny.

"So, there is something? Don't count on me to let it go."

Oce held her gaze for a few seconds, remaining silent, before looking away.

"You're a demon under contract. Nothing in our pact obliges us to have more rapport than the minimum required for the success of my mission."

"What formalism!" Zieg muttered. "It's unexpected."

"You better get used to it..." Oce whispered dryly.

"Hmmm...Wha ...?" The bluish-haired wolf grumbled, opening his eyes. Then all of a sudden he straightened up, his fangs tight and his gaze furious. "Where is this little bastard?!"

Zieg and Oce stared at the hunter with surprise; the brutal awakening left them speechless, and the wolf was quick to pay attention to them.

"Did you take me here?" he growled. "I finally put a paw on him! Now he could be anywhere in this damn desert again! "

"Hey, flabby dick!" Zieg countered aggressively. "The rabbit saved your life. If it would have been up to me, you would still be eating sand, so show a little gratitude to her, at least."

The wolf winced slightly, before shaking his head and gazing back at Oce.

"Please excuse me. I'm not so rough, usually," he mumbled. "My name is Sebastian. And I gave myself the mission to put an end to the whims of this damned demon of the desert."

"A real little soldier," Zieg commented to Oce. "You are made to work together."

Having said these words, the fox entered the inn, preferring to see where Luckyz was rather than listening to the rest of the conversation.

"That fox..." resumed Sebastian. "He's a demon, isn't he?"

Oce blinked in surprise. "How did you know when he was hidden in his mammal form?"

"I can feel it..." Sebastian blurted, pointing to his eyes. "Demon blood flows in my veins."

Oce scanned the wolf's eyes, discovering a red halo encircling his pupil.

"The mark of corrupt miscegenation," Sebastian stated mutely. "What makes me want to languish in this desert, without being able to hope for a better situation among the Hunters, but that doesn't matter to me. I bear the burden of an error made by one of my ancestors, whose name has been forgotten until this day, but I make myself useful here...that's all that matters."

"I understand," the bunny nodded. "My name is Oce. I'm trying to bring to an end the curse that the Seven Calamities represent for our lands."

"We can say that's good..." the wolf replied with a smile. "It's just one of them that I'm trying to catch. This damn fennec makes life impossible for everyone here. One can no longer travel quietly on the roads of Hallow Heart without being the victim of his capricious moods. This has to stop."

"In that case, would you accept that we come to your aid?"

The wolf shrugged. "I suppose a few more armed peers will not be too much...As long as we can trust your personal demon. How do you hold control over him, by the way?"

Oce's eyes fell on the casket, still fastened to her belt, and in which she could feel Zieg's heartbeat with a slow and measured rhythm.

"I have my ways..." she contentedly replied, smiling sadly.

* * *

"I said we couldn't trust him ..." Zieg muttered, letting himself fall to the ground.

"Luckyz, frankly ..." Oce muttered annoyed.

"Fortunately Sebastian has his own quarters in the barracks of the town. Otherwise, we would have had to share the bed for four ..." the fox quipped, raising his eyes to the sky.

"Oh, you're taking that off of your head right now." The rabbit immediately interrupted, blushing to the ears. "We will not share anything! "

"But I had asked for a double room ..." Luckyz stammered for any excuse. "I swear to you… "

Oce and Zieg glared at him. The situation, unfortunately, was the following: they were three in a single room, with only one bed at their disposal. Luckyz himself didn't understand how he could have been wrong, but when Oce went back to the front desk to explain the mistake, she was told that all the other rooms were now occupied.

"Luckyz, you just have to sleep in the barn to be forgiven," Zieg asked cruelly. "Mom and Dad are going to share the room."

"No way I'm here alone with YOU !" Oce countered immediately.

"Anyway, I don't want to sleep in the barn... I'm allergic to hay. And how should I poop? I have fragile intestinal flora."

"We don't need the details of your transit, Luckyz..." Zieg replied. "Let's draw with the short straw!"

"I'm allergic to straw too," Luckyz shouted.

"And what's about your gallantry? Did you eat it?" Oce intervened in an angry tone. "Not that you ever had some! "

"What ?!" Zieg challenged sharply. "You still have my scarf around your neck! If that's not gallant! "

"Oh, awesome! A courteous gesture in a thousand years of existence, I congratulate you! "

"A gesture?" Zieg repeated, emphasizing the words. "Did you forget all the presents I covered you in six years ago ?! "

"It's corruption, not courtesy. You just wanted my butts! It's the only part of me that has ever interested you! Even today, the only thing that interests you is my body, even though you have mutilated it!" Oce exploded, in a wave of fury where she finally let some of her frustration slip.

"Mutilated? I beg your pardon ?!" Zieg shouted in turn. "I'm calling bullshit! I have never done you any harm, and you have torn my heart! That's mutilation!"

Oce was stunned, not understanding how Zieg could ignore what he had done to her. She glanced at him, astonished, wondering if he wasn't making fun of her, or if he really had lost his memory about this sad event of their shared past.

"Zieg, you ..." she began more gently, before being interrupted by a thunderous sound of snoring, so loudly that she felt as if the walls of the room vibrated.

She turned her gaze to the side of the bed to see, dumbfounded, that Luckyz had collapsed in the middle of the pillows, and fell asleep immediately, curling up comfortably in the covers.

"That settles the question ..." Zieg concludes with a laugh. "I don't have the heart to dislodge this adorable goof from his bed. He looks so happy ... Ah, wait. I have no heart at all, actually. "

Oce glanced at him, before recovering an extra quilt in the little closet at their disposal, and throwing it to the ground.

"I have already slept in less comfortable conditions." She commented.

"For having spent the last six years in the Underealms, you can't do worse level comfort ... Even sleeping naked in a polar cave could seem more pleasant ..."

He slid a little closer, before giving the rabbit a tendentious look.

"And I'm very comfortable too if you want to try ... It will bring back good memories."

"None of these memories are good," the bunny contended.

"Not even one?" The fox insisted, approaching a little more. "I'm convinced of the opposite."

Although Oce was now redder than a tomato, she didn't flee from the fox's approach, despite insistent protests from the most reasonable part of her mind, which screamed at her to be wary of him.

"Well ... there may have been good times, yes ..." she admitted in a more lascivious voice than she would have liked.

No doubt the fox took this for an invitation, as he slipped into her back, letting his paw get lost in the curve of her hips. The bunny shivered, hesitating to move away dryly...

"You didn't ask yourself why the loss of these flowers had hurt me so much?" The fox questioned, blowing into the hollow of her neck. Oce closed her eyes and bit her lip. This contact was way too nice not to be demonic...

"I asked myself the question ..." the rabbit admitted. "It's true that even at the time, that particular affection that you had for these lands that you were responsible for had something touching ..."

"Cream-colored petals ... A corolla of a dense brown ..." the fox explained with tenderness. "Don't remember you anything? "

The bunny turned with a sharp twitch, her wide brown eyes widening.

"So ... it was really ...?"

The demon nodded, before smiling at her softly. There wasn't the slightest trace of malice or duplicity in his expression.

They stayed in that position for a moment, before finally Oce closed her eyes and asked him, "Zieg ... You have not let your wings appear once since this morning ... What happened to them?"

Preferring the demonstration to the word, the fox heaved a sigh, before letting the membranous fiber of his demonic wings unveil in broad daylight... or rather his wing. From the left, there was nothing more than an emaciated limb similar to a horn to which some fragments of membranes had been hung.

The rabbit pressed her two paws against her mouth, shocked by what she had in front of her.

"Oh no ..." she moaned with sincere sadness.

"I guess I overestimated my own regenerative abilities ..."

"Is there nothing we can do?" She began. "Will it never come back? Is it lost - forever? "

"I am deprived of much of my power because my heart is out of place." The fox admitted without showing the slightest wickedness. "Maybe I can regenerate her when I deserve to get it back. But I am not sure. "

The bunny lowered her head, blushing, before slightly spreading her arms.

"I didn't defeat House on my own... So you probably want to recover the price of your bet."

Zieg stared at her, surprised by the proposal.

"Didn't I already receive it? "

"It wasn't a real one ..." Oce replied shyly.

Without hurry, taking advantage of the moment that was offered, Zieg moved a little closer, and let his muzzle slip into the hollow of the bunny's nape, which closed her arms around his neck, caressing his fur with tenderness. The fox also wrapped the small prey with his arms, bringing her body against his.

"I have forgotten how nice it was," the fox demon admitted with touching sincerity.

"I ... I must admit that ..." the bunny began, troubled, her heart beating wildly. "Me too… "

A minute later, and they were both asleep.

* * *

"Hey! Michael!" Zieg called, walking alone in the heart of a rocky canyon of red stones, under the desert sun. He had finally retrieved his scarf and advanced perkily, a small red paper bag under his arm. "Show yourself, little one! "

"Who do you call little one, vermin?" A fierce voice came from the heights.

Zieg looked up, distinguishing the little figure of the fennec, who was gazing at him from the top of a rocky peak.

"I have some candies for you," Zieg called out to him before shaking the red bag in front of his muzzle. "Come down from there, I want to talk to you! "

"Some ... Candies?" Michael asked, in a voice that was both curious and interested. His small muzzle was moving, sniffing the air to try to distinguish the sweet fragrances.

"Caramel! Just as you like them. "

"Oh ... Damn ... Okay, I'm coming," the fennec let loose, not hard to convince when it came to sweets.

He leaped from the rocky archway, scratching a few chords on his lute in order to lift a light wind, and float on it gracefully, laughing cheerfully as he slid to the ground, just a few steps from his interlocutor.

"That good old Ziegounette!" Michael exclaimed approaching on all fours, his guitar in the back, his eyes fixed on the candy bag. "They ... They are all caramel? "

"Of course, Michael ... I know your tastes by heart. But avoid "Ziegounette" next time, or I'll bring you banana candies. "

"Banana ?" Michael grinned, pulling his tongue slightly. "I don't like them more than that, but it seems to me that it's you who have a holy horror of this flavor... You wouldn't even be able to touch them, so buy them to bring them to me, no risk ... Bananafox!"

Hidden in the bottom of the ravine, twenty yards behind, with Sebastian and Luckyz, Oce couldn't suppress a burst of laughter, to the dismay of his allies.

"Usually it's me who does the bullshit!" Luckyz growled.

"How am I supposed to hold back when I hear 'bananafox '?" The rabbit laughed.

Sebastian stared at her with a disappointed look. "I would have done better alone ..."

Michael's two ears straightened and his body tensed, alert.

"You tried to ambush me, Zieg?" Questioned the fennec with a sincerely sad voice.

"Of course not. You must imagine something?" Zieg replied. "It's probably just the wind."

Michael frowned, his Ophidian pupils dilating in the middle of his big red eyes.

"I am the wind."

Zieg tried to bring his bag of toffees closer to Michael's snout to mollify him, but nothing helped. The fennec leaped backward, and placed a thunderous chord on his lute, generating a gale of terrible violence, which sent the fox demon about ten yards back.

"Do you think I need you to have my damn sweets?" Michael shouted furiously as he energetically played on his lute, creating new scathing gusts of wind that hit Zieg unceremoniously, tearing his clothes and slashing his flesh. "I steal as much as I want from the fools who risk themselves on my territory!"

The fox demon straightened up, letting his arms cover with dark flames that the unbearable wind kept fanning.

"I'm going to spank you if you don't calm down, you brat!" Zieg shouted.

"I have nothing of a kid! I'm the same age as you, stupid!" Michael challenged, visibly upset. "It always irritated me, that attitude of some protecting big brother that you always had with me! I'm glad you spent six years in the Underrealms! Well done for you, naughty fox!"

"So you ... YOU ADMIT!" Zieg shouted, leaping with all his strength, throwing himself forward with a thunderous explosion of burning flames. "YOU ADMIT YOUR TREASON!"

Michael's eyes widened when he saw that mass of burning flames rushing on him ... There was almost no more red coat that could be distinguished. The whole body of Zieg was no more than a fiery brazier preceded by two black horns.

"So you want to play?!" the fennec smiled, giving new chords on his lute.

He created an upward wind that put him out of reach of Zieg's attack, as the fox completed his run through the rocky outcrop that exploded on impact. But the small vulpine didn't have time to recover as the fox leaped again towards him, undoing the rubble without any difficulty.

"It's going to swing!" Michael shouted as he played the bolero of the sandstorm, the wind immediately rising to his order. "We'll see if you still burn so well once transformed into a sand castle!"

Luckyz, still in hiding, couldn't help but start dancing.

"It's a hell of a rhythm, this little fennec."

"But we can't afford to let it go on!" Sebastian argued, tightening his grip on his katar, before leaving his cover.

The blue-haired wolf took advantage of Michael's obsession with Zieg to leap from rocks to rocks as unobtrusively as a shadow, gaining height to reach his target.

For his part, Zieg noticed the Hunter's progress and directed his attack to force Michael to back down in his direction. The wind became stronger and stronger, and rushed into the canyon, increasing in intensity, while carrying in its wake the hot sand of the desert.

"The party is over, demon!" Sebastian yelled as he leaped towards Michael, mowing him off.

The fennec broke the Hunter's grip without difficulty because of his small size, but when he fell gracefully to the ground, he realized that his lute had been stolen from him.

"No ... not that ..." he stammered as he glanced up to see the blue-haired wolf holding his instrument between his paws.

An implicit survival instinct struck all mammals when Michael's rage broke out literally. The fennec's eyes became entirely red, and his pupils disappeared, while a wind of frightful violence gushed from his paws.

Zieg landed next to Sebastian, who watched their opponent with a startled look.

"What ... what's going on?" The blue asked wolf, appalled by the power of the demon still below.

"He's going to trigger a tornado..." Zieg stammered, frightened.

"But I have his lute," Sebastian replied, straightening the instrument.

"The lute channels the power of Michael ... It is not the source. If it allows him to control the wind, it's not the lute that generates it. We better get out of here."

Sebastian nodded, and the two mammals left the ledge where they had taken refuge to join Oce and Luckyz, who had stayed behind in the canyon. The swirling wind now prevented them from moving forward.

"We're going to be aspirated ..." Oce grumbled, already forced to cling to the wall so as not to be torn off the ground.

"We absolutely have to stop him," Sebastian affirmed. "If you can't escape, you have to go into contact."

"Do you really want to go there?" Luckyz countered immediately. "The strength of the wind around him will reduce us to lint as if we were grinded in a blender! "

Sebastian turned his face to Zieg. His golden eyes circled in red looked decided.

"My demon blood makes me more resistant than a normal mammal. If we go now, I think I can resist it. But if we wait too long, it will be too late. "

"Very well, if you don't fear for your life, I'll give you a paw," Zieg said.

The wolf shook his head knowingly, and the fox turned volte-face, directly confronting the swirling squalls generated by Michael who, in the center of the windy epicenter, was nothing more than a gaunt silhouette.

"Stay in my wake, Hunter." Zieg began. "I'll take the biggest ... Hoping not to lost another member."

With pain and determination, the two mammals approached step by step the danger zone, where the tornado took shape, little by little. A blow sucked forward, a blow propelled backward, they had a lot of trouble to even keep their balance. As Michael was again distinguishable, still screaming in rage and generating more and more wind, Zieg collapsed on his knees, thrusting his claws into the rock so as not to be propelled by a too violent gust.

"I can't stand it anymore ..." he screamed so that his voice could cover the horrible noise generated by the wind.

Sebastian just nodded ... He still had a little strength left. The fangs tightened, he advanced with anger, his coat being literally sliced by the violence of the wind and his leather armor scar. His blood spurted, carried away by the squalls, but his determination was flawless, so much so that, at the end of his strength, at the gates of death, he managed to reach the enraged fennec, who didn't even notice his presence.

But he had no more strength to strike with his weapon... He did all this for nothing. In a last disappointed gesture, Sebastian gazed at the little fennec who was facing him and couldn't see the threatening and destructive demon he had imagined anymore. He saw only a sad and lonely child, who spent his time doing stupid things to get noticed.

His trembling paw slid down the lute's strings, emitting a scintillating note.

Almost immediately, the wind began to fall, and Michael's screams stopped. Sebastian dropped to one knee. His body was riddled with countless cuts, and his coat seemed red as he dripped with blood. Nevertheless, the hunter found the strength to remain stoic and maintain the grip he had on the instrument. With a trembling paw, he made the strings vibrate, and began to play a song he had learned before, but he hadn't had the opportunity to play for a long time.

Bitterness and unparalleled sadness flowed from the melody. Oce and Luckyz, though at a safe distance, and despite the noise of the dying wind, had goosebumps. Zieg, half-collapsed on the ground, raised his head, surprised to see that the lullaby had an effect on the little demon ... Who was now crying with hot tears, eyes turned to the sky.

Michael fell to his knees beside Sebastian, continuing to cry all the tears of his little body.

"Why… ?" He grumbled. "Why did he abandon us?"

Zieg bowed his head, understanding without a hitch that Michael was referring to their Creator.

"My family was taken away from me ..." Sebastian whispered, still playing softly.

"Your ... your family?" The little fennec asked.

"Yes, unfortunately ..." the wolf answered, opening his eyes and placing the last chord of the song. He then put a paw on his ear, to which three silver rings were fixed. "That's all that's left of my wife and two children. But I always have them with me..."

"I ... I'm feeling so ... alone ... Me too ..."

Michael then collapsed in the arms of the Hunter who, a few minutes before, planned to kill him. But there was nothing left of this feeling of animosity in the heart of the wolf now, only fatigue, and a touch of affection.

"This song is called The Lullaby of the Daybreak ... Do you want me to teach you? "

The fennec remained choked, for a moment, his face still embedded in Sebastian's coat.

"Yes ... Yes, please," he replied without departing.

* * *

Wrapped in the bandages that masked his innumerable wounds, Sebastian looked more like a mummy than anything else when he greeted Zieg, Oce, and Luckyz, who were already preparing to leave. At his side stood Michael, whose usually red eyes had been hidden under a charming green color, which allowed him to pass unnoticed among the inhabitants of the little village where the blue-haired wolf had brought him back.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a bit?" The hunter asked his new friends.

"We have to go through Deadly North before we reach Silentwind. Our friends are waiting for us there so we can finish with this whole story," Oce answered in a determined voice.

"Zieg ..." Michael began. "I regret what I told you about your banishment in the Underealms."

"It's nothing," Zieg said without firmness. "But why did you help to drain my strength six years ago? We always got along well, though..."

"I don't know what happened ... Something forced me to do it. An appalling anger took hold of me, and I felt obligated ... as if an order from above had been given to me. I almost thought the Creator had come back and had acted ... But I found myself alone again, and I knew it had nothing to do with him. Forgive me… "

Particularly intrigued by what Michael had just revealed to him, the fox shook his head, before straying a few steps.

"Be careful... brother ..." finally let go the fennec on a way of goodbye.

Zieg didn't answer, just straightening his paw before sending back the package of caramels he had kept until now. Michael caught them with joy and engulfed a big pawful of the sweet treat in his mouth full of little fangs.

"Don't make yourself sick," Sebastian inquired in a protective tone.

"That's the good thing about being a demon. I can stuff myself without taking a gram or even a stomach ache."

"Oh, it's not fair ..." Luckyz moaned. "I want to be a demon too!"

Oce extended her paw to Sebastian, who held her gratefully.

"Thank you for your help, Sebastian. I know Hallow Heart is a safer place than ever now."

"Thanks to you ... You've helped me heal a wound infected since too much time..." he said before giving a tender look to the little demon eagerly eating his caramels.

Oce smiled, before bending over him and extending her paw.

"And you? It is out of the question that you are robbing travelers again - right?"

"I'll just bother them a little bit, I promise. I am a demon, after all. It's in my nature."

He gave her a little wink and shook her paw, before settling into his movement.

"A metallic paw? What happened to you?"

Zieg froze as he heard the question, and risked a look, as well as an ear, to the back.

"Even benevolent, a demon can sometimes make mistakes ... just like us, mortals." She explained kindly.

Although the bunny uttered her words without the slightest hint, Zieg was now certain ... In one way or another, and even if this event had disappeared from his memory, he was the one who had mutilated Oce.

He clenched his fists so hard that his claws sank into his flesh, which dripped with blood between his fingers.

"Fuck… "

* * *

It took almost three days for them to cross the desert, but since Michael had somewhat relaxed after meeting the benevolent Sebastian, they didn't confront any form of bad weather and only had to suffer the heat of a blazing sun.

Then they crossed the mountain passes that separated the parched steppes of the North East of Hallow Heart from the colder lands of the Deadly North, a region no less inhospitable, where the weather was always gloomy, wet and cold.

"How long before arriving at Silentwind?" Luckyz complained, sneezing violently.

"Two or three days," Oce replied. "And bless you, by the way."

"Thank you..." the poor, cold, black wolf snorted, sniffing. "I come from the South, me ... I don't know these barbaric climates..."

"Stop complaining, Luckyz," Zieg muttered.

"I don't have a personal heater that burns between my ears, for my part!" The wolf protested in a plaintive voice.

"It doesn't make any difference to me, though," the fox said. "I don't feel temperature changes."

"Do you mean ... It's spring all year for you? "

Zieg just nodded.

"Damn ... I'd like to be a demon so much."

"Do not talk bullshit, Luckyz..." Zieg countered. "Being a demon is not fun. Most of the time you are a bastard, and in your good days, a poor asshole. "

Oce raised her eyebrows, surprised by this words.

"Something wrong, Zieg? "

"Everything is fine," the fox replied, in a way a little too dry to look natural.

He then accelerated to avoid an extension of this conversation that made him uncomfortable, but the bunny caught him, even putting her paw against his arm.

"I thought things were getting better between us?" She dared, blushing slightly.

The fox slowly exited his partner's contact. "I don't want to hurt you… "

"But how would you hur ..."

"Ah! I finally found you! "

The three mammals turned to the voice that had just hailed them and were surprised to see Joseph Reynart, the master of arms, appear at the top of a nearby mound.

"Master Reynart!" Oce exclaimed while running towards him, looking cheerful. "Are you already recovered from your injury ?! But how is this possible?"

"It wasn't as serious as one could dread, one must believe. And I have a very solid constitution," the hunter said, pressing a sturdy paw against his chest. "Aliya absolutely wanted to join you, but I advised her to stay at Silentwind by promising to pick you up. I'm lucky to have fallen on you so fast ... I suspected you would take the Great North Road."

The master of arms then looked a little more serious, leaning towards the bunny.

"Oce ... strange things are happening in Silentwind. In his intractable battle against demons, I fear that your stepfather has associated himself with forces that he can't control. "

Turning suddenly more serious, Oce frowned, visibly worried.

"In that case, we must go to Silentwind as soon as possible. "

"Certainly," Reynart affirmed. "However, if you still want to take care of the Seven Calamities, I have information about the one who is raging in this region."

Oce hesitated a moment. To hear that the situation in Silentwind was problematic had disturbed her somewhat, but she must not lose sight of her primary objective.

"Very well." She replied. "Lead us to this demon, master."

* * *

"She likes him a little..."

A white petal fell slowly towards the ground, but even before touching the cold stone that made up the floor of the ruined church, it had become black and faded.

"A lot… "

The same fate awaited the second petal, which came to join a whole lot of others, all blackened and frozen by frost.

"Passionately ..."

A chilling silence invaded the space, and the kangaroo demon straightened up at once, a gigantic smile printed on his face, his long horns straightening proudly toward the ceiling.

"Oh yes! PASSIONATELY! Passion is good already, isn't? YES INDEED!"

Then his glance slid toward the flower he held between the fingers of his paw, and he saw that it still had two petals on it...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! "

The kangaroo rolled into a ball on the ground, his long, forked tail trailing behind him, and couldn't stop the tears that filled his eyes.

"Why is it still 'not at all'? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

He then took two little dolls, one representing a gray-haired rabbit with purple eyes, the other a red fox with green eyes, and pressed their noses together, with immense tenderness.

"You will be in love, right? WILL YOU BE IN LOVE !? I will ship you until I have lost my soul! "

At the same time, the church door opened on the fly, revealing dark shadows, silhouetted against the snowy, icy landscape that lay outside.

"Who ... who is it?" The kangaroo cautiously asked, raising his head, his big blue eyes scrutinizing the appearance of the newcomers.

"Is he a Calamity?" A female voice asked.

Displaying a disconcerted expression, the demon kangaroo straightened up, his little stuffed animals between his paws.

"Me…? A calamity? "

* * *

The lands of the Dark Valley had always been under the protection of the ancestral guardians of Ake'cheta's tribe, and they knew everything that was going on under the canopy of the forest in their care.

Everything except what was being played right now...

Crawling silently between the thickets, moving at the slow pace of its regeneration, a skeletal and bony arm slowly crept northward.

His inexorable progress allowed him gradually to regain his strength ... and his form. Such a dense and destructive evil would never really die.

This corrupted arm was proof of that.


	8. The Doctor and the Sovereign

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : As always, we want to thank our editors, ReaderNo31142, Jrh01409 and Cimar-WildeHopps for their precious help and support.**

 **Chapter 7: The Doctor and the Sovereign**

* * *

The demon Ramic straightened his head, sharpening his azure blue eyes to better distinguish the intruders who had just entered the ruins of the church in which he had decided to spend the rest of his immortal existence, isolated from others.

"Me? A Calamity ?" he replied to the accusation that had been made. "I'm nothing more than the damned, who wishes to live in peace..."

The dark silhouettes of the intruders stood out more clearly in the subdued atmosphere of the place. The half-collapsed ceiling above allowed some pale snowflakes to fall inside. Ramic quickly saw the appearance of a rabbit and a fox, his ears straightening immediately.

"You two? You...Did you come back? Are you finally...together...?" he asked in a trembling voice while tightening his paws on the little plushies that he always held tight against his chest. "You see, I never lost hope! I have always believed in you! In the strength of your love!"

"I think he's completely insane..." Snarked the fox, who walked forward a few steps, allowing Ramic to better distinguish him.

Realizing that he had made a mistake, the eyes of the kangaroo filled with tears, his ears falling softly against his forehead.

"Oh...I misunderstood...once again, the celebrations turn into disappointment...Beuuh...I'm cursed..." Ramic mumbled in a sad, defeated voice. "I will never see them again..."

"Who are you talking about?" Oce asked, taking a few steps, allowing Ramic to clearly distinguish her as well.

"Oh, that doesn't really matter anymore..." Ramic explained morosely. "It's just an old story that still haunts me."

Ramic crawled slowly to the altar of the church, and took out a steaming kettle from under the stone stele, before inviting the newcomers to approach. Reynart kept back, displaying a dark air of mistrust.

"But I neglect all my duties as a host..." stammered the kangaroo awkwardly. "I don't have much, just a little hot tea, and with that damp cold, it would do you good. A good cup always warms hearts..."

"No luck for me." Zieg quipped, spreading his scarf, revealing the gaping hole he now wore as a heart.

Ramic winced and shook his head, looking a little confused.

"Ouch, that must have hurt..." he said in a voice full of empathy. "For my part, I can't touch beautiful things without corrupting them in spite of myself. This is the curse I was given when I was damned, and forced into this demonic form. When I think that I wanted nothing but the happiness and love of others, but, in this country, it's not really the way they see things..."

"What do you mean when you say you are cursed?" Oce asked, obviously intrigued.

"It's a long story, and pretty boring if you want my opinion," Ramic admitted. "But if you have a little bit of time to spare in my company, I'll tell you, if you wish..."

"Personally, I would not be against the idea of going to the toilet if you have one," intervened Luckyz, who until now had remained behind. "All this snow makes me think of water, and now I need to relieve my bladder."

"Decidedly, everything turns to the toilet with you..." Zieg snickered.

"Oh, but I have a toilet, yes!" Ramic nodded, pointing to the door of the chapel office, which was on the other side of the heart of the church. "It's a bit cold, but everything is in order."

Oce and Luckyz, strangely trusting the open honesty of the pseudo-demon who faced them, began to move in that direction. Oce was halted when Master Reynart's firm paw closed around the bunny's arm, holding back her advance.

"Demons use many weapons, my dear pupil. Nothing is worse than duplicity. Be cautious."

"You really think he is dangerous, Master?" Oce asked, looking a little distraught.

"I fear that he is… "

"The tea could be poisoned...or his contact deadly..." added Zieg. "He's a Calamity, after all. We don't know what he is capable of."

"So no pee for me, right?" Luckyz questioned, squirming slightly. "At least I can go do this outside..."

"I think you must be wrong..." Ramic intervened in a troubled voice. "I don't want any trouble. If that's what you came for, I'd rather you leave this place, and leave me to my loneliness."

"He doesn't want to fight..." added Oce. "He doesn't look dangerous either. I doubt he is one of the Seven Calamities, in all honesty."

"I will check that for myself," Reynart answered coldly. "Stand ready to help me, if necessary. You too, Luckyz. "

"Very well, master..." the bunny nodded, imitated in her movement by the young black wolf.

The master of arms firmly approached the ruins of the altar. Ramic, suspicious and somewhat frightened, didn't take his eyes off him.

"But... but what do you want from me?" The kangaroo stammered, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. "Please don't take the dolls...I made them myself and they're all I have from my past-"

"Sorry about this..." Reynart murmured simply, unsheathing his sword.

"Wowowo ! Wait!" Ramic defended himself, extending his arms in front of him like a shield. "I don't know how to fight, and I don't want to. I don't even have weapon, look!"

With the honesty of despair, the kangaroo lifted his shirt, revealing his bare coat, marked only by the spiral red tattoos of corruption, and pierced here and there with small, black protrusions in the form of little horns.

"Defend yourself or die," Reynart insisted before jumping at his target, blade slashing downwards.

Ramic threw himself back, stumbling on his own tail, before collapsing to the ground. In doing so, he put enough distance between him and his assailant to avoid the assault. With Reynart's blade just falling between his legs, the demon threw himself onto the blade with the energy of despair, hoping to gain enough time to convince his opponent of the uselessness of this fight.

"Please !" the kangaroo insisted. "I hate violence, I only exist for love! The true, sincere and pure love, which binds two souls together for eternity! The real ship!"

Between his cursed paws, Reynart's beautiful sword began to spoil, rust, and disintegrate into broken fragments. Oce and Zieg's eyes widened as they saw what was once a magnificent sword disappear into metallic powder and ash.

Reynart frowned, then sighed, before falling on his knees, placing a paw against the demon's arm.

"Aaaaah!" Reynart screamed suddenly in pain, under the bulging eyes of Ramic who definitely didn't understand anything about the situation.

"Reynart!" Zieg exclaimed, before heading for the altar.

Oce, now panicked, and unable to visualize concretely what had happened at the altar, armed her crossbow and ran immediately to the rescue of her master, Luckyz on her heels...

But the black wolf didn't reach his destination, as Zieg leapt at him, hitting him hard on the back of the neck. Luckyz's eyes widened, horrified at being attacked by the mammal he considered as his friend.

Oce saw the attack of the demon-fox and skidded to a stop doing an about-face. Flabbergasted she stared mutely...before being assaulted in turn by her own master, who violently struck her in the back. The blow threw her to the ground, completely stunned from the surprise of the betrayal.

She straightened herself with a clever roll, turning back to her allies, still not understanding anything that had just happened. When her eyes fell on her master, the mammal she had always considered as a father, she was horrified to see that he was holding the box containing Zieg's heart between his paws. The demon fox, having finally knocked out Luckyz, joined the master of arms with a nonchalant step.

"Ma ... Master Reynart?" the bunny stammered, her throat tight and her mouth dry.

"I'm sorry, Oceana ..." Reynart said placidly. "Indeed, there was no Calamity here...At least not before I arrived."

The atmosphere of the church became violently electric as Reynart suddenly condensed around himself a dark and impious energy that Oce had never felt from him before. This force channeled all around him in the form of intense and crackling lightning which, without warning, he threw against her.

Eyes widened with incomprehension and terror. She couldn't even prepare a dodging movement before she was struck by the lightning discharge, immediately feeling the dark, enveloping depths of unconsciousness claim her.

* * *

Silentwind, the marble city. An immense fortress built by the first Hunters in a time when demons ravaged the world and threatened the existence of all mammals. It was from this fortress they stood against the onslaught, the Virtuous Order of Hunters, exceptional beings trained in combat, and ready to die for the holy cause of safeguarding mortals. All in a crusade of purity to redeem the soul of the world to the eyes of the Great Creator. But their fight was never ending, and although over time the demons became rare and less aggressive, the pursuit of their mere existence would not end until the last of them had breathed their last breath.

In the highest strata of the high towers of the city, in the headquarters of the Order, the leader of all the groups of Hunters stood leaning over a map of Hallow, scrutinizing it with his unique eye. Sire Loràn Potence, a hare whose tall stature and powerful and bulky musculature was concealed under a heavy armor of plates in which it was seen engulfed from morning to night stood pondering the map before him. The burgundy colored half-cloak on his back shifted ever so slightly as his gaze shifted, the gold edges sparkling in the light of the room. His left eye was concealed behind an eye patch from the edges of which escaped the star-shaped growths of a heavy scar soiling his otherwise pristine and sparkling white coat.

"The southern lands have been devastated by this puppet-like demon, according to the words of the young Sari...and my stupid daughter-in-law has once again become infatuated with the impure Calamity of the First Generation. This demon- fox, could he be cursed? Our situation is deteriorating everywhere, without us seeing it coming, and our allies are even less reliable. I need more than ever the advice of the Sphinx Sovereign."

"If you deign to listen to my opinion, sire. I can't offer too much advice for you about this obscure creature again," said another mammal present beside the warlord.

Loràn's single eye turned to the mammal that had just spoken. It was a rabbit with a shiny brown coat, his sparkling eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. He was wearing a shimmering blue tunic, and in his back was tied a long and magnificent red cape which seemed to float by its own will.

"Speak frankly, Dr. Ned," the lord of Silentwind promptly said. "I have never deprived myself of your wise advice, it's not today that I will begin."

"In all honesty, if what you just said was true, our situation may be far worse than you think."

"Maybe a little less frankness, actually," the warrior huffed, changing his mind about the advice while raising a disdainful eyebrow.

"As you wish ..." the doctor agreed, straightening his falling glasses on his short snout. "Umbra may seem to offer wise advice, given her powers, but her origin is demonic by nature. You blame your daughter-in-law for the unfortunate associations she weaves with the demons, and yet you make the same mistake."

"Except that I control Umbra, where Oceana has no hold over her fox. It's him who manipulates her, not the other way around. The purpose of the war I'm waging against the forces of Evil is entirely based on the information that Umbra can reveal to me. The Sphinx desires, as much as we do, the disappearance of corrupt beings. She has a deep and sincere hatred for her peers. If she wishes to remain the only corrupted creature on this earth, then she is a trustworthy ally ... And at the slightest whim, she will disappear into the nothingness of the Underealms."

"And it's probably for this reason that you lodge her like a queen, give in to her slightest whim, and conduct your actions as she wishes them? If you want my opinion, you no longer have control, sire... And Silentwind is riddled with murmurs and rumors that question the merits of your authority..."

"ENOUGH !" exclaimed Loràn, smashing his metal fist on the table, which cracked under the power of his hit. "You're out of line, doctor. Don't think that all these years of good and loyal service will protect you from my anger, or even worse, from the banishment of which I could chastise you!"

"The Order of Hunters lacks of so many good fighters that you can't do without me, my lord."

"Maybe so..." the hare admitted in a dark voice, straightening his single eye, marked by anger, towards his interlocutor. "But none of them can disrespect me."

"If it is the feeling I have given you sire, I apologize for it. I wanted to advise you, not to question your authority."

"Do not worry, Ned ..." Loràn finally said, returning to a calmer attitude. "I control Umbra. And she doesn't control me. Keep calm."

Unconvinced, but seeing that it would be useless to insist further, the doctor merely nodded vaguely.

"You may leave..." finally spoke his superior. "I will keep you informed of the next actions to be taken once I have spoken with the Sphinx Sovereign..."

Ned breathed a sigh of weariness, bowed to his superior, and left the commanding quarters at a brisk pace, struggling to hide the irritation he felt at the situation. Once he had left the apartment of the Lord of the Hunters, he collided muzzle to muzzle with a cute bunny wearing a coat, and a tuft of blond hair punctuated with a lovely whipped cream tint. He blinked as she giggled, a long wick of wheat-colored light from an open window falling on her smiling, and slightly sly face. She wrapped her arms around Ned's neck, and before he could say a word, she placed a passionate kiss on his lips.

"Nadine! Not here!" The brown rabbit defended himself, gently withdrawing, a blush rising in his cheeks. "I am in office and on duty, and I already lack enough influence here without adding to it the reputation of a gentle heart."

"But not a heart to take, you charming seducer..." murmured Nadine, offering him a smile that replaced any thoughts Ned had coming. "Everybody knows that we are together...they just wait to know when you will have the guts to ask my paw in marriage."

Ned's blush redoubled in its intensity. He shook his head to chase away all the inappropriate thoughts that this situation had caused in his mind, which was somewhat inclined to romanticism.

"We'll talk about it later..." he began in a hesitant voice. "When the time is right."

"Charming excuse," Nadine said dryly, folding her arms over her chest and letting her smile change to a sulkier expression.

"That's not the issue..." Ned said. "I'm caught off guard. I feel that something serious is happening, but I can't make Lord Loràn listen to reason..."

"Maybe you should intervene without his approval, in that case?" Nadine advised him bluntly. "I trust your judgment. Everyone here trusts you. This is what Lord Loràn has been lacking for some time. You don't win a war by using the enemy's weapons."

"I guess you're right..." Ned admitted. "As always, actually."

"Of course. In fact, I'm also right for marriage. You should quickly make your choice, if you don't want to miss a great opportunity."

She punctuated her sentence with a little kiss on the cheek of her rabbit, before moving away with a detached step. Ned turned his face to her, and she offered him a naughty wink, before disappearing into the dark corner of a corridor.

The rabbit nervously adjusted his cloak, and straightened his glasses again on his snout, putting his ideas back in place, before gradually taking a more determined look.

"Quit to pass for a traitor, I will see the true intentions of Umbra..."

* * *

A terribly cold wind had fallen on the frozen moors of the Deadly North, but it wasn't as intense as the one now invading the spirit of the fox demon Zieg, who was walking hastily towards the West, ready to return to his lands and take back the responsibility of them.

"You should not feel so morose, Lord Zieg," Reynart followed a few feet behind him. "If it can reassure you, know that she will recover without damage. I gave her a discharge just large enough to make her lose consciousness, but she will not suffer any harm."

Zieg didn't react, just kept moving forward without even turning around.

"And besides, that's what we've been planning for all these years. The opportunity had come up many times, but once in Silentwind it would have been too late. We could no longer delay this mutiny."

"I'm trying to persuade myself that I did all of this to protect her..." the fox finally said in a detached voice. "But I feel like I'm lying to myself."

"We have both acted in the interest of all. You needed your heart to recover all of your former strength and we have never had such a need of it. You know very well that she probably would never have given it back to you..."

"And why is that? I trusted her..."

"And she trusted me..." Reynart replied dryly, eager to put his friend back on the right demonic path. "And yet, we both betrayed her, once again. Mortals and demons aren't made to live together...

"And yet you spent more than twenty years with them under my request, to make you look like one of them. Dare to tell me that you don't feel any pain at the idea of never seeing Aliya or Oce again. You loved them like your daughters, I know it."

"But you are more important to me than anything else. You are like my son as well. I can't decide for myself the way that my heart must choose. And I prefer to stay true to what I am, even if I have to suffer for eternity..."

Zieg halted before turning to his loyal friend.

"So that's it?" the fox asked with a melancholic air. "We are finally obliged to what our creator had planned for us? Impure beings, unable of living in harmony with mortals, condemned to always torment them, or to test their faith? We did everything we could to reject our nature, and finally in the end, we always come back to it."

Reynart winced slightly, caught unawares by the turn of the conversation. Of course, he hadn't expected the situation to be a happy one because of the treachery they had planned for such a long time, but in the end, it did bring them back to their sad condition as evil beings.

"You are incomplete. Getting back your strength will no doubt help you to overcome all of this." Reynart said, handing the box he had stolen from Oce to Zieg.

The fox hesitated a few moments before receiving the small wooden box with wrought iron contours. Oce had chosen a beautiful container for his heart, almost as if she had wanted to take care of it during all those years. There wasn't the slightest scratch ruining its surface, and a little fox had been engraved under the latch. Zieg couldn't repress a smile, and he felt his own heart beating a little harder between his paws.

"I guess it's time ..." he declared. "After all, it belongs only to me."

Reynart nodded, before lifting the latch in place of the fox demon, knowing that he would need help to overcome the latter obstacle.

Inside the box rested a beating heart, slightly bloody, but animated by an intense life force ... It had survived the weight of years, even when its owner was waiting his time in another dimension. Now they were going to be one again.

"Give me the honor, Joseph..." Zieg asked.

Reynart nodded, before delicately grasping his friend's beating heart. Without losing a second, he thrust it into the hole from which it had been torn six years before.

Zieg folded in two and groaned in pain while his flesh closed violently around the organ that had finally been returned to him. To again feel his heart beating in his own chest was difficult, but at the same time exhilarating. Almost immediately he felt the massive influx of demonic energy fill his being and he immediately spread his, now whole, wings. The mutilation they had undergone was already beginning to subside, and they both seemed to be returning to their original form and gracious appearance. His horns smoothed and finally stopped dripping black liquid, a mark of his fragility. The eternal flame that burned between his horns became denser, and took on an intense blue color, a sign that his heat was intensifying. The fox demon straightened up with a cry of relief. He had the impression of being reborn.

"How could I have deprived myself of this for so long?' he said ecstatically.

"No doubt with pain and patience..." Reynart said in a wise tone before closing the box.

The fox demon turned to his counterpart, a smirk stretching across his features.

"I suppose it's time for us to return to our lands, Reynart. You will be sad to see what mortals have done to them..."

* * *

"I can't believe this happened..." Luckyz moaned, making dull bubbles in his cup of tea.

"I can't believe I contributed..." Ramic lamented as he rubbed his wet eyes with two new soft plushes of his own making, one in the colors of Oce, the other strangely having the appearance of the fox demon Zieg.

"I was pretending to sleep the other night. I saw them hug and fall asleep together..." the black wolf added, becoming a shipper in spite of himself.

"Both suffered mutilations, yet they managed to find comfort in the presence of their soul mates," Ramic cried, raising his arms to the sky. "What a shame! What an infamy! Why did it take a new ship to hit me when I was the most vulnerable! My soul will be forever without rest!"

"Do you have a little bit of rum to put in your tea?" Luckyz asked. "I want to get drunk to forget what just happened!"

A stifled sob brought them sadly to the sad reality of the consequences of what had just happened. Knees against her face, which was hidden by her drooping ears, Oce was literally folded in on herself, in a corner away from them. She had held out so far, but despite all the strength she had managed, she finally cracked from the exhaustion and despair.

Ramic straightened, eyes wet, and joined her. She would have liked to tell him to go back and leave her alone, but she didn't even have the strength to utter these few words. And part of her wanted to have someone to talk to.

"No one can better understand than me the pain inflicting upon you..." Ramic pronounced as he knelt beside the little bunny. He placed a paw behind her back to bring her back against him and offer her the comfort of his chest, where she could cry hot tears without having to restrain herself. "A long time ago, I tried by all means to make love prevail over all reason... above traditions, but also laws. In this region, one doesn't get married for love. One could even say that love doesn't even exist around here. The hearts are cold...as cold as the mountains that we find here. When they warmed under the effect of feelings, I was present for the sincere souls who wanted to unite despite the forbidden nature of the meetings. And for that, I was cursed. I was just a priest, and now I've become a demon. It's not my own malice that has corrupted me, it was others'. I don't think I've ever been someone mean...maybe a bit choppy, clumsy or too playful. No doubt too naive. A bit like you, actually. Our qualities sometimes make us suffer, but also grow. It's only a step." The kangaroo demon quieted before uttering softly. "I'm sure he'll come back to you."

Oce straightened. Her tear-filled eyes, touched by the confidence of the delicate, hopeful words that Ramic had offered her, that damned soul she barely knew. If he had heard of his existence, her father-in-law would have ordered him to be killed, yet he was a gifted being, and probably one of the sweetest and most generous she had ever encountered. Mortal or demon, damned or sacred, it didn't have any importance in the end. But nobody was ready to admit it yet. Neither mortals nor demons.

"Yes, I'm sure," Ramic nodded again, smiling tenderly. "You were unconscious, but I saw the look he laid on you before leaving. He looked even more devastated than you are now..."

"But why ...?" the bunny mumbled in a broken voice, her body trembling under the weight of her sorrow.

"No doubt because he thinks that his nature compels him to do so," Ramic replied, shrugging his shoulders. "And it's up to you to make him understand that he is in error and that his destiny is to walk by your side. Even if you have to push this idea into his brain by the force of your adorable little fists."

Oce remained silent for a few moments, but this idea seemed to give rise in Ramic's mind to a new and unwavering determination. He straightened up, an expression full of hope and playfulness on his face.

"BUT YES! That's what you need to do! And I will help you get there!"

He stooped down low and grabbed her paws in his.

"Yes, Oce! I'm a demon, in a way! So make a pact with me! I guess it's possible! Let me accompany you and help you realize the ship that will mark the accomplishment of my destiny!"

The bunny couldn't repress a hopeful laugh. Ramic's good mood was infectious.

"That's right, Ramic. I'm going to seal a pact with you, my friend."

* * *

In the darkness of the long, dark room that had been assigned to her, and lying on a layer of opulent fluffy blankets and pillows of rich silk, laid in a nonchalant posture the imposing and magnificent Umbra, the Sphinx Sovereign. A mystic and demonic creature who had come from a distant mysterious continent, and, who had hired her services to the chief of the Demon's Hunters of Hallow's country, Loràn Potence.

She was a feline entity with a calm and smiling face and a slightly sly and mysterious expression. Two large, black curved horns crowned her head and gave her an air of imperturbable calm. Her long body of gigantic proportions and shimmering finesse was as quite large, even larger than that of the largest mammals to populate the lands. From her shoulders, a pair of gigantic black-feathered wings folded over her back.

Incense was slowly being burned in the four corners of the room. From time to time, the sphinx popped a grape into her mouth from the imposingly large fruit basket that had been placed at her disposal, just beside her couch. Housed and treated like a queen, Umbra hadn't stolen her title of Sovereign.

A slight noise attracted the attention of the creature, who turned her piercing gaze to the darkest area of her abode.

"Show yourself, House..." she said inquisitively. "I feel the stench of death that you carry on you."

Limping lightly, as he hadn't yet fully recovered his original form, the Dread Puppet made his appearance from the dim light, lit by the candles here and there which gave the room an almost hypnotic, dense, and stifling atmosphere.

The puppet glared at the sphinx, which didn't even bother to react. Finally, House greeted his master with a theatrical movement, bowing and pulling on his hat, pretending without difficulty a most exaggerated form of respect.

"Let's not waste time on ceremonies," Umbra ordered, holding out her paw to the deadly puppet.

House opened his horrible mouth full of sharp fangs, and a spectral haze of a disgusting greenish color began to escape from the depths of flesh and metal organs that made up his corrupt and infernal being.

Umbra smirked, before drawing that vaporous energy toward her, absorbing it into the crook of her paw. This occult maneuver lasted almost a minute before House finally closed his mouth with a snap, as Umbra did the same, tightening her fingers on the palm of her hand. The green glow that still emanated from the spectral residues she had absorbed slowly ebbed away.

"It's a great harvest, House."

The puppet was content with a dry movement of the head for only answer.

"I know you've been roughed up a bit these recent days," Umbra added in a falsely distressed tone. "Maybe you want to take some rest? "

"House never rest. House kills, and will continue to kill."

"That suits me perfectly," Umbra said, letting herself fall back onto her comfortable bed, before adjusting her position to bask more. "Silentwind doesn't lack of souls to reap. You know what you have to do..."

She didn't need to say another word as House disappeared like a shadow into the thick darkness that obstructed the deepest recesses of the apartments of the Sphinx Sovereign.

From the colossal heights of the room, floating in the air with his strange magical cape, Ned hadn't lost a word of what had been said under his alert eyes.

"I knew it..." he stammered to himself, his throat tied with fear. "I knew it!"


	9. The Huntress and the Fox Demon

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : We will not be more original than the other times, but we really want to thanks our editor, ReaderNo31142, Jrh01409 and Cimar-WideHopps. You guyz are incredible! Be strong, there is just one chapter left ;)**

 **Chapter 8: The Huntress and the Demon Fox**

* * *

It was absolute carnage. Aliya wished she would never have seen such a spectacle, but unfortunately, she was now accustomed to it. The young huntress had already seen such a debauchery of violence not so long ago...she had even been the target of it. So she had no trouble recognizing the bloody signature of the perpetrator of the crime that was spreading under her eyes.

"It's him..." she gasped. "It's House...he's still alive."

The vixen clenched her teeth as she left the tavern containing the thirty dismembered corpses which now populated it. Around her were members of the Silentwind Guard, one of whom ran to the corsac vixen when she saw her leave the crime scene.

"What are your conclusions, Huntress Sari?" the mammal asked, visibly unaccustomed to confronting this kind of massacre.

"We are looking for a demon. He will certainly have taken a feline form and will be accoutered like a puppet. If you locate it, don't engage, especially not alone, as you would have no chance. Notify the nearest Hunter officials."

"You...You won't continue the investigation?"

"No ..." Aliya replied coldly. "It's time to hunt."

Determined to put a final end to House's actions, the corsac vixen interrupted the conversation and accelerated her pace, trying to concentrate her olfactory senses in order to spot the death track that the dread puppet had left behind. She pulled her hood over her head as a cold, insidious rain began to fall on the town of Silentwind. Above her, the tortuous clouds took on a strange, purple color, which told her something sinister was in the air. A curse was at work, and something serious was about to happen. Her senses on alert only confirmed her fears...

"Master...I hope you're ok..." she stammered for herself.

* * *

"Ned, I said I didn't want to hear about this nonsense anymore!" Loràn shouted, once again banging the table in the meeting room of the headquarters.

The doctor gauged this gesture with a cautious look. At this rate, there would soon be nothing left of the table.

"Our funds are limited in terms of equipment, sire. I remind you that I'm also in charge of our cash, and it's not the most glorious these days..."

Loràn became red with fury at the provocation that was asserted, making the company of his adviser unbearable.

"Do not force me to fire you again today... It might be final."

"Before this demon mingled with the Hunter's business, I always had your full confidence," Ned said calmly. "Something has changed, and you can't deny it."

"Certainly..." mumbled Loràn suspiciously. "But probably for the best. As for trusting you, maybe I was wrong. Obviously, your defamation of Umbra was motivated by your jealousy towards her."

Ned felt anger rising but remained stoic and detached. He had a gift for controlling his emotions.

"Just a moment ago, I caught her plotting with a demon in the very heart of this castle, and yet you put my word in doubt."

"I don't believe it," Loràn said. "It's your word against hers. Accusation is not proof."

"What did she promise you to be so reluctant to hear the truth?" Ned snarled. "Did she have visions of the future and promised you greatness, wealth, and victory? You know that our quest will never end. Our struggle is eternal, we will never get rid of the demons permanently. Just like us, they are a part of this world."

"Blasphemies, now!" exclaimed Loran, rising to his full height, directly threatening Ned beneath his imposing stature. "I disbelieve more and more in your loyalty to me, Doctor."

"I am loyal to the cause of our Order," Ned replied dryly.

"Now, all is clear," the white hare murmured with a dark voice. "Please leave these place - immediately."

The doctor took a step back, understanding very well what the leader of the Order was meaning.

"You have become blind to all good sense, that is my final diagnosis," Ned finally said, before leaving the room.

If he were to save the Hunter's cause, it would have to be done without the support of their leader.

* * *

The rain that hit Silentwind stretched for miles around, and even as far away as they were, Zieg and Reynart were not spared from its brutality. Even though their condition as demons protected them from the cold, it didn't prevent them from suffering the inconvenience of wet fur. The master of arms snorted, shaking from his head to the tail before jostling his muzzle to chase the raindrops that crept into his nostrils.

"I know you're in a hurry to reach your land, but we'd better find shelter until this downpour stops."

"Look at the clouds piling up behind you, Joseph. This rain is not about to stop soon."

The demon turned under the advice of his counterpart and noticed the particularly dense cloud concentration and the strange purple color swelling in the East.

"It's focused on Silentwind ..." Reynart mumbled worriedly.

"That's not our problem anymore," Zieg snapped.

"The last time I noticed such a concentration of black magic was ..." the master of arms began before swallowing his words. He let a few seconds pass, and then resumed, more panicked than before. "Aliya and Oce are in danger, I feel it ..."

"You said yourself that we had to give up on them. It's not in our nature to meddle in the affairs of mortals. All our misfortunes began, for this reason, almost a thousand years ago! This must end!"

"You're partly right, stupid fox," a deep, cavernous voice echoed down from the top of a hill flowing with rainwater.

Zieg and Reynart turned their eyes to distinguish the massive shadow that had just called them, and which was accompanied by a slimmer, slender, silhouette. The demon foxes had to refine their vision to distinguish them in the middle of the downpour, but first impressions didn't deceive... It was Samael and Thomas Cataro.

"Tell me I'm dreaming ..." the fox demon wondered. "We left you a few weeks ago on the verge of killing each other, and now you go together like a wagon and wheel?"

"I owe you thanks, brother," Samael grunted, letting himself slide heavily to the bottom of the mound, Thomas on his heels. The Hunter still had his arm in a splint, but apart from that, he looked healthy and more aggressive than ever.

"And why is that?" Zieg questioned reluctantly. He heard Reynart's crackling of electrical energy in his back. Obviously the master of arms was ready to defend his friend in case the situation was to degenerate.

"For putting a minimum of sense in my mind..."

"After you left the Outside Country, I thought about the events that had just happened." Thomas intervened in the cold, detached voice he always used. "I needed answers to my questions...and I thought Samael could give them to me. Fortunately, he wasn't as difficult to find as the previous times. To believe that the more we find our senses, the less we are careful."

"Believe it or not, but the one who was my torturer helped me to reconstruct the puzzle of my psyche...and buried memories came back to me," Samael continued, getting closer to Zieg, dominating him with his impressive muscular stature.

"I'm delighted for you both," the fox said, shrugging his shoulders. "When is the wedding?"

"Don't mess with me!" Samael shouted, the burning ardor of his eyes becoming even more inflamed than usual.

"I would give you the same advice, Samael," Reynart said, whose whole body was now covered with lightning. His eyes had become intensely white, and he was ready to release the wrath of his electrical power.

"That will not be necessary," Thomas called out. As the only mortal in the middle of three demons willing to slaughter each other, he showed no sign of worry. "We are not looking for a confrontation. We have uncovered a conspiracy which has corrupted our respective ranks for years now."

"A conspiracy?" Reynart asked. "What does that mean?"

"You were too busy mothering to realize what was just playing out under your snout, Joseph..." Samael scolded severely. "My mind has been broken for all these years, but what's your excuse?"

"Stop," Zieg interrupted firmly. "Don't blame our brother. He has played his role since all this time under my directive."

"And maybe you would not have spent the last six years of your long life in the Underealms if we had all been a little bit more careful..." the huge wolf said. "Don't make the same mistake today."

"What do you mean by that?", Zieg replied.

"And speaking of errors...where is the bunny?" Samael asked.

"Yes," added Thomas. "What did you do with Oce?"

Zieg let himself smile with his most provocative look, before spreading his wings, rekindled by the return of his heart, and burning his flame to its highest degree of intensity.

"You didn't notice that I had recovered my health?" He contented himself with answering arrogantly.

The violent blow that hit him in the face couldn't have been anticipated. Zieg had the feeling that a mountain had just hit him right in the jaw as he was propelled to the ground with such force that he sank several inches into the mud that had invaded the winding path they took.

Reynart's thunderbolt snapped in a flash of light, but he didn't have time to emit the slightest discharge as Thomas's crossbow was pressed against the demon-fox's temple that had crashed to the ground, who remained still, stunned by the masterful slap Samael had inflicted to him.

"Tell yourself that this one is worth every smack you should have taken after what you did, six years ago," Samael growled, stomping forward.

"Zieg..." Reynart interjected. "Would you like me to get rid of them?"

"It will not be necessary, Joseph..." Zieg grumbled, straightening up, a trickle of blood flowing from his mouth. "I think I deserved it, in a way..."

"You did," Samael stated bluntly. "You took advantage of the reforms that Oce's father's dissident group tried to achieved six years ago, in order to seize power over all the forces involved, demons and mortals. You couldn't just settle for what you had already won in your life! People who trusted you, on both sides! Michael, Joseph, and myself...you had our support. And through your shenanigans, most hunters had also placed their hopes in you. We were finally facing the possibility of putting an end to centuries of struggle, but it was necessary that you destroyed everything, by your selfish conduct!"

"I am a demon, not an altar boy," Zieg countered with a smirk. "And don't come to talk to me about trust. Michael betrayed me too. You practiced the Rite of Condemnation with the help of the other Calamities in order to deprive me of my power. And you thus allowed Oce to tear my heart out and banish me to the Underealms. Joseph is the only one who remained faithful to me!"

"In fact, I think that's where you're wrong, dumb fox," Samael replied coldly. "None of us betrayed you. We were corrupted by the rapprochement made with certain groups of hunters, and we let the power of another one infiltrate our minds little by little, without noticing this scheme. Another one who also wanted above all to obtain power, and who saw in you her greatest rival. She caused your fall through us, and stole all of your strength, to make you a wild beast. Listen, in your madness, you almost killed the father of the bunny."

The fox remained silent, his eyes wide. It was as if a ton of iron fell heavily on him, and prevented him from breathing properly. None of this made sense to him. He hadn't discussed the subject with Oce since his return, not once. As if these events had become taboo, a kind of tacit agreement between them guaranteeing the precarious balance of their reformed partnership. A pact...it was only a pact. Things were very different, but it led him to the mistake. A new time. A fatal mistake.

"It was me who slashed off Oce's paw, wasn't it...?" Zieg growled in a muffled voice. He already knew the answer to this question. "It was me who maimed her..."

Samael was silent for a few seconds, gauging the condition of the demon-fox, whom he felt was ready to implode under the weight of the revelations.

"You had gone mad, just as Oce and her father were facing the reality of your true ambitions. The Rite of Condemnation practiced without our knowledge made you lose your mind at the same time as your power. Oce did everything to try to calm you down, but you attacked them both. She acted to save her father. She knew that depriving you of your heart was the only way to put an end to your madness."

"And you didn't do anything?!" Zieg yelled, his red eyes fogging in spite of him with tears of rage. "You didn't do anything to prevent that?!"

"By the time I realized what had happened, the damage was done," Samael continued. "Besides, I wasn't even present. What would you have wanted me to do?" Samael justified without being intimidated. "But I found the track of the evil spirit that had corrupted us, Michael and I... and maybe even the other Calamities. I never knew clearly who had been involved in the manipulation process."

"Who is at the origin of it?!" growled the fox, whose body was slowly covering itself with burning flames. "Who is responsible?!"

"I think you already know the answer..." Samael replied.

"Umbra..." Zieg mumbled with such a degree of hate in his voice that it was barely audible.

"When I understood it, I tried to confront her with the truth, but her hold on Loràn Potence was already very strong. She handles him better than a puppet. She's been behind every Hunter action for all these years."

"Samael was delivered to us on a silver platter," Thomas said coldly. "We were asked to destroy what he was, failing to send him back from where he came from. This order came from her, no doubt. She knew that she had to muzzle her most serious rivals."

"My incredible resistance had become my scourge..." Samael concluded. "And without your intervention, nothing would be left of me but a savage and murderous beast today."

"It's more me that Umbra should be afraid of now," Zieg shouted, his fangs tightening as he turned his face towards the apocalyptic, cloudy heave that stood in the distance, just above the fortified city of Silentwind.

"Unfortunately, you destroyed our chances of approaching her by betraying Oce once again..." Samael countered. "Oce would have opened the way to her without any difficulty. If we want to reach Umbra, we will find ourselves facing a complete army of Hunters, obeying her orders through Potence."

"That's fine like that," Zieg said. "I don't want Oce to be involved in this. She suffered enough because of me."

"You will not be able to do it without her help," Thomas countered immediately. "Apart from Loràn, she is probably the only one able of motivating our troops to turn against the real enemy."

"But why…?" Reynart asked, shaking his head. "What does Umbra have to gain from all this?"

"Your great heart and naivety are your weaknesses, Joseph," Samael replied in a dark voice. "She wants what every demon wants implicitly. Domination of every form of life."

"That's not what I want," answered Reynart. "I never wanted it."

"Because, just like us, you have spent too much time in contact with mortals, so much so that they have influenced your real nature. The one that the Creator had imposed on us as a line of conduct. Test the purity of mammals, and punish those who weren't worthy of the love of their Creator."

"But mortals have so many facets..." Zieg added head down. "It's impossible to gauge them so easily...at least, not without coming to love them for their weaknesses, as well as their qualities."

"And that's what we should cherish, right? Even if it forbids us to live with them...At least we can guide them on the right path," Joseph insisted, who was trying to breathe some hope into their common cause.

"Maybe..." Samael admitted. "But I don't think it was the primary idea of the Creator. It was for this reason that he created other generations of demons, darker and cruel. The mix that we had developed with mortals was certainly an aberration to his eyes that sought purity and devotion."

"Umbra is one of those generations that followed ours," Zieg concluded. "Her heart is black and filled with hatred, both for mortals, but also for demons. We must not look further for the motives behind her actions."

"You judge her..." Thomas added. "But if I understood correctly, you did the same thing in the past...right? Ritual of Condemnation or not, you too wanted to dominate all the others. You lied and manipulated to reach that goal, and if Umbra hadn't opposed you, you'd probably be heading Hallow today."

"And would it have been worse?" replied the fox demon. "The Hallow area I was in charge of was a marvel of nature, flourishing and prosperous. The mortals who lived there were happy and healthy. Hallow could have followed the same path if I had been allowed to lead things in my own way."

"Even if it had to be accomplished through mutiny and civil war?" Samael asked. "That's what you started six years ago. Assume at least the consequences. You think you can be an exceptional leader, but you forget that the sacrifices involved are sometimes too big. Even if your cause seemed right, it was a source of trouble. You lie to yourself if you think you can get to your ends so easily, and without dirtying your paws."

"And we saw the results last time..." Thomas added with a sigh.

"Today is different," Zieg argued. "I do not worry about power anymore, and the lands that I cherished are nothing but ashes. Hallow as a whole will also burn if we don't put an end to Umbra's actions."

"Is that really the only thing that concerns you?" Joseph asked in a voice full of doubts. "You can't hide it, not from me..."

"It's just..." the fox began before interrupting himself for a few seconds. "There are things that I wasn't prepared to lose, already at that time. And to safeguard what remained, I thought I had to give up on it."

Samael sighed wearily. The rain and this morose conversation were beginning to annoy him.

"Stop beating around the bush. If you don't fight for Hallow, for us, or even for you...admit that you do it at least for her. Otherwise, you're nothing but a coward. "

"I don't admit anything," Zieg replied, clenching his fists. "But I will fight."

* * *

The trio formed by Oce, Ramic, and Luckyz had traveled the last kilometers separating them from Silentwind at a running pace because the torrential rain was as icy as invasive, and the journey had become particularly unpleasant.

"I dream of dry clothes, a hot chocolate, and a cozy bed!" Luckyz moaned, closing the march.

"I dream to see Oce and Zieg kiss," Ramic added in a perky voice, hopping in the rain.

"And I dream that you stop filling my thoughts with sweet and pleasant things," Oce concluded.

She noticed the wide-eyed and erect ears of her two companions, who, despite the rain, could not stop their tails from moving happily. The rabbit shook her head, understanding what they had in mind.

"I was talking about the cozy bed," she added, to the great misery of the two mammals, whose ears fell limply under the weight of the deluge. "You know you're creepy sometimes?"

"I wasn't damned for nothing," Ramic answered, rolling his eyes.

"Huh? What?" Luckyz whined. "I'm going to be damned for that, too?"

"You're just a young Padawan on the way of the ship, Luckyz," Ramic reassured him. "You still have a long way to go before damnation. I'm the captain of the ship, and you're still a little moss."

"Maybe I'll stay like that, then..." Luckyz moaned. "Not that you are ugly to look at, far from it. But the spades everywhere, and the horns... In short, I think it would make me much less delicious. Too crunchy in the mouth."

Oce glanced at him sideways, slightly aghast. "You're starting to scare me with this cannibal tasting story... You're not going to invite Arten to eat you, right?"

Luckyz seemed to weigh the pros and cons for a moment before finally letting go. "Wait, why would that be a good idea in the first place?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Who is Arten?" Ramic asked in a cheerful voice. "Luckyz, is it your ship?"

"Well, he wanted to eat me once... I don't think anyone has ever wanted me that much. It was almost touching when I think about it ... And then he had such big fangs... What do you think, Oce? "

"I think once this whole thing is over, I'm going to need some therapy."

Fortunately for her, they arrived at the Silentwind drawbridge as she uttered these words. The sky was twisted of strange flashes of mysterious colors that prevented them from determining whether it was day or night. The high fortress of the fortified city stood proudly, but it had lost the pearly beauty of its white color and was no more than a thick shadow carving itself in a veil of darkness.

"Too bad we didn't meet any female demons," Luckyz grumbled, obviously not having finished with this strange conversation. "Not that Arten is a bad guy, but I'm not playing on the right team."

"A tip, Luckyz," Oce said, without looking away from the high gates of the city. "Try to find someone nice, who will not break your heart ... Or better, who will not try to eat it."

"Noted!" The black wolf concluded with a big smile.

"If you want, I can help you find someone," Ramic suggested to the black wolf. "As it turns out it's my specialty."

"You are specialized in lost causes..." Oce intervened in a sad voice.

"I forbid you to be defeatist!" Ramic replied. "One day, a shining ring will adorn your finger, and it will be a fox demon kneeling in front of you who has given it to you."

"But of course..." Oce muttered, turning her face away, feeling the redness rise to her cheeks. "Stop now, please..."

They had no trouble entering the city, Ramic hiding his demonic garb, and the presence of Oce, daughter-in-law of the lord of the city, making the administrative procedures useless. They had barely made a hundred meters in the central artery of the town that Oce noticed an unusual gathering of guards from various buildings, which had been condemned to public access. Obviously, there was trouble. The bunny accelerated the pace towards the fortress. All this told her that something wrong was happening. As she turned toward the rotunda that opened onto the upper fortified areas, she struck a white shape that was charging in the opposite direction. The two mammals were thrown to the ground with a slight scream.

"Excuse me, I ..."

"Oce?" Aliya interrupted with a singing voice.

The rabbit's eyes widened, surprised to find herself snout to snout with her childhood friend, even if their reunion had been a little brutal.

"Aliya! If I had expected to fall on you so fast!"

"Falling is the right word."

The two females hugged each other, then the corsac vixen greeted Luckyz, happy to see him again, and was introduced to Ramic.

"But where is Zieg?" Aliya finally asked. "Master Reynart went to meet you, you didn't cross him?"

"Two questions at once, and I have no encouraging answer to offer to any of them..." Oce said, bowing her head.

"What do you mean?" Aliya asked. "Something serious happened?"

"I... I think it would be better if we discuss it quietly... and especially in a dry place..." The bunny replied.

"But I'm in pursuit of ..."

"It's important, Aliya!" Oce interrupted.

The vixen grasped the seriousness in her friend's gaze, and realized immediately that she would have no choice but to follow her.

* * *

"Allow me to skip the knocking!" Dr. Ned let out, opening the double door that separated the pleasure hall from the sphinx sovereign from the rest of the fortress.

The sphinx straightened her head, refining her charming eyes, before displaying a smile of facade that shone by its falseness.

"Wouldn't it be Lord Loran's former first adviser?" The demoness asked in a voice full of cynicism. "I thought our lord had definitively fired you..."

"He did, and my followers are preparing my stuff as we speak." The bunny replied soberly, advancing resolutely towards the luxurious couch in which his interlocutor was lounging.

"Well, then, I will just wish you a good journey and say goodbye," Umbra said, scrutinizing her claws with a scornful and detached look.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Ned shouted as he straightened his right paw, which shined at the glow of the invocation's seal he created inside his palm, levitating the sword that girded his belt. His bewitched cloak waved behind him, seeming to react to the magical emanations provoked by its possessor.

Umbra's eyes widened as the rabbit swung his sword toward her, showing no sign of hesitation. The demon straightened up, countering the onslaught of a lazy movement of her paw, which materialized in front of her a shield of protection of a dark mauve color. The sword slammed the magic barrier, causing an awesome spurt of sparks.

"So you want to close the debate in such a way, poor mortal?" Umbra scowled, channeling her power to hold the barrier in place, as Ned continued the pressure of his sword, trying to pierce the obstacle that separated him from his target.

"There has never been a debate, Umbra." The doctor countered. "I have seen clearly through your game since the beginning."

"Too bad it took you so many years to have the good sense to come and offer me such a kind visit... But it's too late."

"It's never too late to fix one's mistakes." Ned insisted, gritting his teeth, administering more power to his weapon.

Fortunately for him, he remained alert to everything around him, which allowed him to dodge the thrust of the two-handed-sword that tried to hit him from his blind spot. Ned jumped back, bringing his sword back to him through his magical manipulations, and turned his face to the assailant who had just attempted to kill him by surprise...

The rabbit opened his mouth when he saw standing before him none other than Loràn Potence, engulfed in his combat armor, his giant blade, Demonslayer, brandished in front of him.

"S ... Sire ..." Ned muttered, stunned.

"I gave you an order to leave this place." the leader of the Hunters' Order let go. "But again, you didn't know how to obey."

"I… I…"

"You dare to attack my dear Umbra ... The watchful aegis who protects our Order and guides me on the virtuous path of victory? This time you went too far."

Ned's gaze fell from a dark shadow... one of infinite anger. Over the metal shoulder of Loràn, Umbra watched the show with a little-amused air.

"If I have to knock you down to make you listen to reason, sire ... I will do it."

"You'll try..." Loràn added darkly, before launching himself to the assault of his long-time friend.

The Hunter's leader's strength was terrible, each of his stroke more powerful than the previous one, and Ned could only counter his assaults from his own blade, taking advantage of his levitation to maintain a reasonable distance from his opponent.

"You don't see that she controls you?" The doctor shouted. "That she insinuated herself in your mind like a poison?"

"Silence, poor idiot. You know nothing. You never knew anything! "

Ned unfolded his cloak, taking off from the ground immediately to rise out of range of his enemy, bringing his sword back to him to give it a momentum and send it back to the assault. Nevertheless, Loràn insinuated, in turn, a spell to his sword, whose broad blade was illuminated by several ancient runes which had been engraved there, and which answered only to the will of their controller.

A burst of dark energy was thrown at Ned, who maneuvered as best he could to dodge it, but had to take some of the residual effects of the spell, which hit him on the left arm and shoulder. He gave a cry of pain as he threw himself towards the ground, out of reach of his opponent. A kind of corrosive acid of mystic energy was eating and gnawing his flesh, and he was forced to apply a healing spell to limit the damage caused. In doing so, he no longer mastered his sword and found himself at the mercy of his enemy.

Having landed only a few steps from Umbra, she wasn't going to miss the opportunity. With a violent movement of her huge clawed paw, she tried to tear off the head of her prey. Instinctively, Ned ordered his cloak to propel him out of range, and landed violently against the opposing wall, barely avoiding losing consciousness from the violence of the shock.

He was almost instantly joined by Loràn, who, with his sword raised above him, was about to kill him. With an agile movement of the paw, Ned brought his own blade back to him. His lagomorph opponent being right between him and his sword, Loran was hit by the magic weapon right in the back. His heavy armor took the bulk of the impact, but the hare was thrown to the ground, allowing Ned to move away again.

"You don't give me a choice ..." the rabbit let out a little higher, Umbra turning her lascivious and amused expression towards him. Obviously, she didn't take him seriously at all... That would be her loss, thought Ned.

He chained an impressive number of signs with both paws, ignoring the intense pain that his left arm injury made him feel. In just a few seconds, he had managed to generate ten mystical runes of arcane spells, and with a final movement of his right paw, he released their power toward his enemies. The dark room was then illuminated by the multitude of magic projectiles that poured from the sacred seals Ned had just invoked. About fifty salvos were fired on chain, ravaging the layer on which the sphinx sovereign had used to lounge. The walls of the fortress vibrated under the intensity of this arcane cannonade that raised so much dust and rubble that Ned's opponents quickly disappeared from his sight.

The smokescreen splintered at once, revealing an enraged Umbra, surrounded by a flickering protective screen, blood dripping down her face, and her right wing pierced with more than a trait.

"It's an act you'll pay dearly for!" The sphinx shouted, finally losing her calm and usual phlegm. "Don't expect to die quickly !"

She opened her maw, which deviated abnormally, revealing the hideous face that was hidden behind her usually posed and graceful appearance. A purple light source sprung into a kind of beam, and Ned reflexively let himself fall to avoid the vile wave of corrupt flames that his opponent intended for him. Hardly arriving on the ground, he was assaulted by Loràn, who had been severely hit by this arcane fire, but who despite the severity of his wounds continued to fight fiercely and handled his giant sword as if nothing happened. His armor was pierced in three points, and an abundant amount of blood was disgorging from his wounds.

"Sire ... stop!" Ned ordered, parrying the fierce blows of his former leader with his enchanted sword. "If you continue, you will bleed out and die!"

"Die!" Loràn vociferated gathering all the dark power of his magic sword.

Ned closed his eyes and prepared to take the shock. He straightened his good arm and materialized a shield of blue mystical energy, on which was neatly inscribed "Dr. Ned". The Demonslayer crashed against the aegis that protected the doctor, and the shockwave was so violent that the two adversaries were literally propelled to both ends of the room, Ned amidst the ruins that remain of the sphinx's throne, Loràn on the side of the double door.

"It's crazy fun to watch you kill each other." Umbra chuckled sadistically as she flew over the battle zone. From her clawed paws, she clung to one of the colonnades, folding her wounded wings in her back. "You're starting to run out of energy, sorcerer ... I can smell it from here."

Indeed, this exhausting fight began to push Ned beyond his limits. He sat up trembling, his breath short, and his body bruised. He had enough energy left to levitate his sword, but he needed a little rest before he could again generate offensive mystical signs. He clenched his teeth, refusing to let himself be pessimistic.

"But Lord Loràn could fight even if his limbs were torn off!" Umbra added.

And as if to justify her words, the white-haired hare straightened up. His wounds were appalling, and any mortal would have long since collapsed under their weight ... But not him. And the reason was quite simple ... Loràn's eyepatch had been torn off during the last assault ... And in the midst of the scars that run through his face was highlighted an arcane eye of purple colors. The mark of Umbra.

"You have literally controlled him from the beginning?" Ned shouted.

"Not totally..." Umbra admitted with a smile. "But enough to infuse him with the urge to turn against you. And now that your attacks have deprived him of his conscience, I can play with his body as I want. Thank you, little bunny."

Loràn then straightened his sword, ready to go back to the assault.

 **BONG**

The hare froze under the effect of this resonant metallic sound which imposed the silence on all the antagonists in the room. Sir Loràn Potence fell to his knees, his single eye rolling back under his eyelid, while his magical counterpart energy evaporated into a myriad of purplish particles. The leader of the Order collapsed on the ground, defeated by the brutal assault that had been inflicted on him by none other than Nadine, prostrate behind her victim, a frying pan held between her trembling paws.

"Doctor ... tell me I didn't kill him ..."

"You... you're just perfect, Nadine." Ned let out, literally dazzled. "Marry me."

"Well ... of course!" The bunny replied in a trembling voice, her eyes watering with tears. Was it because of the emotion or anxiety, no one could say.

"You little bitch!" Umbra fired, letting herself fall heavily to the floor, only a few feet away from Nadine. "You broke my toy!"

She straightened her paw, ready to inflict a deadly correction on the rabbit who had the misfortune to intervene in her dark scheme.

The sphinx, however, didn't have time to strike, as Ned's magic sword stroke her directly between the wings, brutally wounding her on the back. Under the influence of anger, she had lowered her guard. Umbra turned her angry face towards the doctor, who was approaching her with a determined step, his gaze severe and his expression dark.

"I forbid you to touch her."

* * *

It was hard for Oce to console Aliya, who was crying loudly against her shoulder. The two friends had sheltered from the rain in one of the watchhouses which overlooked the walls of Silentwind. There, quietly, and with a great deal of apprehension, the bunny told the story of her misadventures to a stunned Aliya who, had first refused to believe in the betrayal of their master, and had finally had to resolve to hear the truth... And that with the necessary pain.

Ramic and Luckyz were left behind, morose, wanting to give a little bit of privacy to the two females who shared a mutual and sincere sorrow. Both had lost a lot today, and would probably never be able to heal from these wounds.

"We... we will never see them again, will we?" Aliya sobbed in the crook of Oce's neck.

The bunny found nothing to answer and looked away through the window of the watchhouse... What she saw outside left her open-mouthed.

"Uh... you wouldn't believe me if I told you so?" She said in a dry voice, drawing the vixen's attention to the outside. On the main road leading to the drawbridge of the city, an unexpected foursome was advancing... Thomas Cataro, the scourge Samael, the master of arms Joseph Reynart and the fox demon Zieg...

Oce clenched her teeth and frowned, before straightening up without saying a word and flinging herself out, past Ramic and Luckyz without even glancing at them. She hurried down the steps to the top of the walls, and rushed along the main avenue, under the pouring rain, to reach in less than a minute the main gate of Silentwind. She stood on the other side, crossing her arms, while the group she had spotted from the heights approached the city limits.

They stopped on the other side of the drawbridge, all shocked to see the welcome committee that was waiting for them.

Zieg shuddered slightly, before making a sign to his allies, ordering them to stay away, then he approached a few steps, stopping in front of Oce, who didn't look away and confronted him with a stern look.

"Go away, bun bun. I have a demon to kill."

"Me too," the bunny replied coldly, seizing her crossbow.


	10. The Divine Comedy

**OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : And this is already it. The Halloweek ends officially with this chapter (even if we are preparing a little surprise with Cimar-WildeHopps) and the storyline reaches is very end. None of this would have been possible without the help and the support of our editor team. So once again, a BIG thank you and a lot of hugs for ReaderNo31142, Jrh04109 and Cimar-WildeHopps. And of course, thanks to all of you, readers and followers, who have supported this project with your participation, encouragements and very kind reviews.**

 **Chapter 9 : The Divine Comedy**

* * *

Neither the freezing wind, nor the driving rain, nor even the strange cataclysmic lightning and growling thunder were able to make the situation more critical. Oce's stare was piercing into Zieg, and he seemed to gauge the degree of seriousness of the bunny standing in front of him. The ultimate obstacle between him and his vengeance.

"Do you really want to confront me again?" Zieg hissed between his fangs, letting out his long claws from his clenched fingers.

"Why not ? You betrayed me again," Oce replied seriously, shrugging his shoulders. "You know the rules of this little game."

"I have no time to lose with your moods. I have other cats to whip. Like a very big cat with wings."

Oce shook her head, her ears dripping under the rainwater.

"I don't care what brings you here. You will not go without my approval anyway. This is my city, demons are not welcome."

Reynart, who had remained behind until now, took a hesitant step towards his former pupil, hoping to make her hear reason.

"Oce, it's vital that we ..."

"I said demons were not welcome," Oce said fiercely. "It concerns you too, from what I understand. So keep your forked tongue between your teeth, if you still want to be able to use it. You will need it to justify your little secrets to Aliya. She's shed too much tears because of you."

Confronted to his faults, Reynart could only stammer a few words that made little sense, bowed his head, and took a few steps back, vanquished.

"Let him be," Zieg ordered darkly. "He only obeyed my orders."

"Better and better!" The bunny objected in a forced laugh. "So you are at the origin of absolutely all my recent disappointments."

"Listen, I..."

"Enough!" interrupted Oce forcefully. "Fight me."

"I have no desire to fight you," the fox sighed wearily.

"You may defend yourself to save your carcass, then. You always do that."

The fox opened his lips to counter-argue again, but the bunny was through with words. While the sky was illuminated once again under the strange glare of an intense flash, she raised her crossbow, not hesitating to shoot at close range. Zieg certainly felt the seriousness of her action and narrowly escaped, his shoulder scratched by the bolt. As he bent down to get out of reach, Oce straightened her knee covered with metal plates and snapped it straight into the fox's muzzle.

With a heavy grown, Zieg was thrown heavily back, falling onto the soaked drawbridge and slid pathetically several meters away.

"I would not have taken it, that one ..." commented Samael, who was observing the fight with a most phlegmatic detachment.

"I bet two poultry on Oce ..." Thomas Cataro replied, glancing at his demonic sidekick.

"Two poultry? It's just a mouthful for me..." the giant wolf let go. "Four for a draw."

"Do you really think it's time to make stupid bets?" Reynart asked, as the only spectator who seemed to be really worried.

"Relax ..." Samael argued. "It's not the first, and certainly not the last, that these two are banging on each other."

"Yes, but last time it ended with one paw less for one, and six years in the Underealms for the other..."

"It's different today...they're just bickering," added Samael. "A means like any other to settle their accounts and come to terms."

"May you be right ..."

"Do you join the bet, then?" Thomas asked.

"I'm not really in the mood to bet on the situation..."

And as if to echo those words, as the fight raged between Oce and Zieg on the drawbridge, Aliya, accompanied by Luckyz and Ramic, appeared from the gates of the city.

The worried gaze of the vixen slipped from the clash zone to her master, glowing with black rage. Reynart remained stoical. He would have his own accounts to settle later.

Ramic, for his part, grabbed his horns before shouting.

" NO! You must kiss, not fight! You understood nothing!"

"Nice show!" added Luckyz, smiling. "It lacks of popcorn, that being said!"

His sentence was punctuated by a violent wing blow from Zieg to Oce, who was thrown against the wall with violence, but recovered without much difficulty, clinging to the wet stone with her mechanical paw, before projecting herself zealously against the fox demon.

"You don't fight with all your strength, dirty coward!" Oce scolded in a falsely contemptuous tone. "Where are your flames? Can't you use them when it's raining, or what?"

Zieg was silent, his eyes dark, as Oce's weapon clashed onto his elbow greaves.

"So?! Is that it? At least try to face me!" the bunny cried, straightening herself violently before throwing a vicious head-butt at her adversary, who was thrown back, his muzzle now coated in blood.

"My flames can't touch you, no need to waste them," Zieg finally countered, spitting a bloody spittle on the ground.

"You mean they don't consider me as a threat, right?" the bunny snarled. "Wait until I deprive you of one of your horns! Maybe that could make them change their minds!"

She shot three bolts in a row, perfectly framed, and the fox just generated a flame screen in front of him to reduce the projectiles to ashes.

"I will not hurt you, no need to insist," the fox let out in a dark voice.

"It's too late for that, you moron!" countered Oce as she launched an assault of paw-to-paw combat.

She knew very well that her opponent would easily get rid of her ranged attacks. And since he could not use his fire against her, he had no chance in close combat, a situation in which she excelled. As a result, she traded her crossbow for her battle dagger, and cut down with precision, forcing the demon to dodge. The latter began to grumble and be more virulent, understanding that he would have to defend himself if he hoped to get rid of her...and it was exactly the situation that Oce was trying to provoke. She wanted to see Zieg get out of his shell, and sincerely express what he had on the heart. Now that he had it back, it should be easier for him.

"You had planned to betray me since your return, hadn't you?" said the bunny, chaining the attacks faster and more agile than the ones before.

Caught up, the fox couldn't dodge the last stroke, which cut his cheek. He groaned, but resisted the urge to counterattack with violence, merely repelling his opponent with a large movement of his wings.

"It was inevitable!" he shouted. "Our natures are incompatible!"

"It didn't stop you from flirting with me, or even letting me sleep in your arms that night at Hallow Heart…!"

A cruel smile on her face, she directly aimed her dagger at Zieg and threw. Big mistake to the eyes of the fox: the bunny had just relinquished her only way to reach him. He countered the blade with is arm, focusing on it...and widened his eyes when the bunny re-appeared right in front of him. She was so fast that she had joined her blade in full flight, and thus had created an easy opening in the fox's guard. However, while she could have easily slit his throat with a simple movement of the wrist, she contents herself with only giving him a metal punch right in the eye.

"Ouch...Fuck..." Zieg groaned, falling heavily against Samael.

The latter grabbed him by the scarf and threw him straight into the combat zone.

"I bet five poultry on Oce," Thomas commented placidly.

"Sold," the demonic wolf nodded.

Zieg glanced at them, a new mistake from the fox. Oce took advantage of his inattention, and punched him again, straight into the stomach.

"Get out of your muteness and fight me, or I aim lower..." the bunny growled. "You should focus on our fight!"

Luckyz instinctively crossed his legs, his tail slipping between his thighs, instinctively protecting his private parts.

"She...she's really wouldn't do that, wouldn't she?" he asked in a dolorous tone.

"Of course not...she must want children, right?" Ramic argued with uncertainty.

"I guarantee you that if he doesn't change his attitude, she will end up doing it..." Aliya countered. "It's years of frustration which speaks now."

"Ouch, ouch...he can say goodbye to his demonic three-piece service..." Luckyz moaned.

However, Zieg began to counter his opponent's attacks with more force. He was getting tired of the situation little by little...but as Oce took the fight much more seriously, she found the flaws in each of his attacks, and punished his imprecision at each stroke...

"What do you want to hear, dammit?" Zieg shouted, straightening his head, after taking another punch in the nose. "I don't have time to play with you!"

"Do you still think this is a game?!" Oce shouted. "It's the same way you treated our relationship! You would have done better to leave that to our memories of yesteryear, rather than rekindle the flame of my feelings once again..."

Zieg was stunned for a few seconds, surprised by what he had just heard.

"For me it wasn't a game ..." stammered the bunny, stopping her attack by meeting the shocked gaze that the fox turned to her. "Neither a phase...even if you have got your heart back, finally, it's as if you never had one..."

"You know nothing about that...you don't understand what it's like to be like us!" Zieg countered with a movement of the arm to include Reynart and Samael in his argument. "We envy you, mortals! That's right, we would like to be just like you! To have the possibility to grow old, surrounded by our loved ones, and to be able to die ourselves, one day, having the feeling that our existence was important!"

At these words, Oce recoiled a little and her ears fell on her back.

"We are failed, vain entities. We were created to carry out a quest that we will never accomplish, because we fell madly in love with your mortal nature. Our creator has denied our existence to the point of disappearing and abandoning the world we were destined to purify! And today, we are confronted with the hatred of those we seek to defend, who are constantly trying to destroy us, to banish us, or to use our powers to achieve their malefic ends!"

"And so you thought it would be a good revenge to wreck a poor stupid mortal like me, right?" Oce countered, voice wavering. "That anyway it would not matter, since I would eventually forget you, find some random male, make my life with him and die in the contentment of a comfortable and meaningless life?"

"This...it wasn't my intention..." Zieg said, looking away.

"During those six years you had been banished, I never forgot you. I never wanted to meet another..."

"Yet you didn't jump in my arms when I came back...you avoided me, you made me understand that it was only a pact. My heart against my services." Zieg countered.

"I should have trusted you without the slightest suspicion, when you had already betrayed me in the past?" Oce said, straightening her mechanical paw. "I lost this because of you, and yet I didn't blame you."

"I never wanted that to happen..."

"I understood it well. I knew you wasn't responsible," Oce said with a sigh.

Zieg turned his head again helplessly. His worried and vanquished expression made him look like a beaten dog who could have seemed pathetic if he had not been so disarming with sincerity.

"It wasn't you..." finally said the bunny. "You think I don't understand your demon's nature, and that may be true. But I know who you really are and it broke my heart to have to cut out yours and see you disappear, without knowing if you would ever reappear one day..."

"Why didn't you invoke me back on your own?"

"Things are not that simple..." replied Oce in a quiet tone. "You talk about it now with detachment, but we are no longer in the same situation at the time. Nothing was safe for me... Several years of maturity separate me from the naive and optimistic bunny I was then."

"I guess you're right..." Zieg agreed, letting his ears fall back.

"Yet..." began Oce, smiling softly, extending her paw to the fox, who was still gazing at her in that almost frightened look. "I'm just as in love with you today as I was at that time... and maybe even more."

"Don't you want to kill me anymore?" the fox sputtered softly in an uncertain tone.

"Approach if you dare..."

Consenting without much hesitation to the proposal, the fox took the few steps that separated him from his bunny, who stood on her feet, climbing up to his muzzle while clinging to his scarf dripping with rain, to put her lips on his.

She pulled away from his embrace only because she felt a warm liquid wet her face. She opened her eyes, surprised to see the demon's tears flowing from his narrowed eyes, pleated in a strange mixture of distress and relief.

"I regret...I regret everything..." he sobbed as he fell to his knees before letting his head fall back into the crook of Oce's neck.

The bunny squeezed the fox against her forcefully, gently rubbing her cheek against his coat, gently marking it with her scent.

"You owe me five poultry," Samael calmly commented to a grumpy Thomas.

On the other side of the bridge, Ramic was in turmoil, though containing his joy as to not spoil the reconciliation of the fox and the bunny. But between his paws, his two new, soft plushies, didn't detach their snouts from each other.

Luckyz was also in joy, and manifested his contentment by an improvised dance to which he had invited a somewhat disconcerted Aliya.

For his part, Reynart couldn't repress a sigh of relief. Somehow, he had wished for such an outcome, even if he didn't think it was even possible at first sight. Their troubles were not over, but at least he could finally assume what he was among all the mammals he cared about.

"What are we going to become?" Zieg finally let out a soft voice in the hollow of Oce's ear. "The fact that we are together doesn't change anything that keeps us apart."

"I don't know, Zieg, but, give us at least a chance to think about it together, this time.. I'm not as weak as you think," she whispered. "At least, not as long as you're by my side..."

"It's me who becomes weak when you're here..." the fox quipped.

"And when you walk away, I turn into Darkbunbun. You don't want to see that, believe me."

"I may not have seen it, but I felt it," the demon added, testing his sore muzzle. "That's going to leave some marks... I'll let you have the pleasure of putting some pomade on me."

"Sugar fox."

Zieg finally straightened up, while sighing. He glared at the tall fortress of Silentwind.

"But before that, we still have a job to do..."

"The demon you came to kill here, right?" questioned Oce.

"It's House, isn't it?" Aliya intervened who had finally managed to get out of the dance of Luckyz, who nevertheless continued to celebrate alone. "How did you know he was still alive?"

"House?!" Zieg exclaimed. "What do you mean? For my part, it's Umbra that I want to kill!"

"Umbra?" Oce wondered. "But she's not a-"

A thunderous crash came to interrupt the conversation, and all eyes turned to the high fortress, whose left wing had literally exploding under a magical destructive impulse. Two highly concentrated etheric forces clashed, judging from the mystical fragrances that fluttered in the air, cutting the curtain of rain and were of different signatures; one of a scarlet purple, the other of an intense blue.

In the middle of the cascade of rubble fell a mass more imposing than the rest ... The shadow tried to unfold its wings to cushion its fall, but managed to stabilize only awkwardly. The form flitted from left to right, wavering with difficulty, before crashing heavily on the ground, a hundred meters from the gates of the city.

The worried gaze of the vixen slipped from the clash zone to her master, and glowed with black rage. Reynart remained stoical. He would have his own accounts to settle later.

Without losing a single second, the group of mammals and demons rushed near the point of impact, towards which was moving another flying form, much smaller than the previous one, and which seemed to float gracefully in the air by the means of a bewitched cape.

"It's Dr. Ned!" Oce said, surprised by the unexpected turn of events. "The chamberlain of the Order of Hunters!"

"The top of the pyramid, in short," Zieg replied. "He might not be very happy to see us, my brothers and I."

"It's a very wise person, on the contrary," Aliya countered.

"More reason for him to be suspicious, in fact," Samael chuckled, who seemed particularly amused by the situation.

"In any case, we will not have to look very far for what we wanted to find ..." Zieg observed, stopping a few meters from the muddy furrow that Umbra had caused by crashing to the ground.

The sphinx was in a bad state and was trying hard to get back on her feet, without succeeding. Her wings were charred, and still burning under the effect of bluish flames. She was moaning, wading pitifully in a puddle of mud, blood flowing over her body from the innumerable wounds inflicted on her. She was trying to remain dignified, but bitter tears of pain flowed from her narrowed eyes under the effect of pain.

"It's ... It's the most majestic and beautiful creature I've had the honor to contemplate in my life..." Thomas Cataro stated, eyes bulging and mouth ajar, unable to detach his eyes from the agonizing sphinx.

Samael glanced at him, before shaking his head. "You're really a Hunter of the "weirdo" category."

Ned then landed close to Oce. He looked bad, and his condition wasn't much more glorious than that of the opponent he had just defeated, but at least he was still standing on his legs.

"Oce! You have come at the right time!" he shouted. "Nadine had to smash the skull of your father-in-law with a frying pan!"

"Well, we missed the fun moment!" Zieg let out a sneer.

Ned gave him an incongruous look, which killed his hilarity in the bud.

"Nice work anyway..." the fox admitted, glancing at Umbra. "You are impressive, Ned."

"Nice to meet you, too," cynically replied the rabbit.

"You better finish me, as long as you can," Umbra said painfully as she fell to the ground, deprived of all her strength. She was barely able to straighten her head towards her enemy.

"Not until I had answers to my questions..." Ned replied, turning his attention to the Sphinx.

"You better go through the interrogation phase," Samael advised growling. "She can pollute your mind just by voice..."

"I saw the effects of her verbal venom on Sir Loràn Potence. She made him a traitor to his own cause, and a puppet she could manipulate as she pleased."

"That guy was an asshole long before Umbra interfered in his thoughts..." Zieg said ironically.

Oce merely looked away, but didn't contradict the words of her fox.

Ned cleared his throat, not inclined to enter into a debate of opinion about the leader of the Order... Even if this status was put in the balance of uncertainty at the moment.

"Well, Umbra..." Ned finally resumed. "What was your goal, through these actions? Destroy the Order from the interior? Get more power? What?"

"Stupid mortal considerations, that doesn't surprise me at all..." Umbra spat, rolling her eyes. "You visualize things only by the narrowness you have, and always bring everything back to your miserable scale..."

"Certainly..." Ned said scornfully. "In the meantime, I'm not the one who bathes in the mud and waits impatiently for someone to put a muzzle on me."

"A muzzle might be an idea..." Thomas offered hopefully. "That would save us from having to kill her."

"We will avoid following your advice, Cataro..." commented Reynart in a detached tone. "It looks like you're not quite yourself anymore."

"Quite the contrary ..." moaned the lynx. "I have never been so lucid!"

"Someone knock him out or should I take care of him?" Samael said with spite.

Umbra couldn't help pushing a cynical sneer at Ned's logic, and while spitting a little more blood, she continued her explanation.

"We demons failed to fulfill the project that the Creator was carrying out for mortals through servile entities that we are. Your individualities are your weakness. We demons have been designed as tools. Effective and sharp. We had only one task. One, and we just had to stick to it..."

The other demons in the place stood in an uncomfortable silence...being thus brought back to their primary function always had been something unpleasant for them. Umbra turned her gaze to them and it was burning with fierce hatred.

"You are worse than the deadly vermin that corrupts these lands. By your needs, our task at all has become a failure; and this failure a plague. I did only what was in my power to fulfill the mission to which I was devoted. By relieving mortals, as well as demons, of the corrupt essence that gnawed their blasphemous souls."

With a faint movement of the paw, Umbra materialized a green haze, the same she had drained from the mouth of House.

"No more recourse for the damned, if I keep their souls locked in the prison of my mind..." Umbra sneered sadistically. "No more Underealms for the traitors, and no eternal rest for the larvae..."

"You have captured innocent souls?" exclaimed Aliya. "With what kind of maleficence?!"

"By becoming myself a sort of Creator..." Umbra replied soberly. "With the help of ancient obscure rites, brought back from the forgotten continents of the West, I conceived a perfect demon, more destructive, murderous and effective than all those who had existed until now."

"House..." muttered Aliya, who was now able to collect all the pieces of the puzzle. "It's House, isn't it? "

"That's why Lord Dagonn wasn't able to visualize the future that entailed this demon..." Oce concludes. "He doesn't come from here or elsewhere...he's an artificial being..."

"In part..." Umbra groaned, the pain of which was becoming hard to bear. "It was conceived from the corrupt flesh torn from several demons of the first generation that I managed to suppress. Hardass the Deep...Raurrhus the Reaper...Van'tor the Master of Secrets...I've forgotten a lot of other ones for sure..."

At the hearing of these names, the expressions of Zieg and Samael were narrowed. Each of them were their brothers of the First Generation. Demons who, like them, had not been able to fulfill their task of Judges of mortals, and had felt affection for them.

"You're sad for those incapable, from what I can see from your crestfallen faces..." Umbra concludes with a tired smile. "You are pitiful...we are tools of judgment. Our task accomplished, we weren't destined to keep living anyway."

"We should have accepted this fatality and disappear without defending ourselves, according to you?" Samael asked furiously. "We didn't have the right, too, to exist like the others?"

"What others?" Umbra countered in a darker voice. "The mortals? They were damned. The Creator was ashamed of what they were, and we were the punishment he was destined for them. Now he has turned his gaze away from us and he will never come back unless we satisfy his original ambition."

"What you say is ridiculous," Zieg intervened. "And totally wrong, moreover. If the Creator has decided to turn away from us, demons and mortals, then good riddance. Who needs a god who fears what he creates to the point of wanting to verify allegiance by violence and sadism? We all have a wrong idea of him. And we are the ones who should have given up on him first. He didn't create us like he was."

Zieg then grabs Oce's paw in his, crossing his fingers between hers, clearly displaying to Umbra's amazed eyes the union he had woven with his female.

"We are not able to judge mortals, nor are they able to judge us. We are what we choose to be."

To everyone's surprise, it was Ned who first agreed to these words.

"And for that reason, I'm going to spare your miserable life, Umbra."

"I beg your pardon?" the sphinx spluttered in a surprised voice.

"I think that depriving you of your strength and forcing you to live in this world that you hate to the point of wanting to annihilate it will be a much better punishment for you. It may be even educational. For all of us."

"I'm hallucinating. You're only trying to humiliate me more, aren't you?"

"Stop counter-arguing!" Thomas said in a hopeful voice. "Accept to live and understand this world. Just like I did."

"I'd rather die," Umbra said vehemently.

"Eh eh ! Then you will be pleased!"

None of the people were able to react to the sneak attack that hit Umbra hard. The flank of the sphinx literally burst into a sheaf of blood, while an invisible projectile pierced through it. She screamed in terrible pain and collapsed to the side, pounding her paws and wings in comvulsive and panicked movements. Thomas cocked his crossbow and hurled himself to the side of the dying creature, trying to determine the angle of the attack that had struck her.

The instinct of the demons and hunters in presence allowed them to anticipate the invisible spears that were destined for each, and they threw themselves out of reach, the ground exploding on the different points of impact, breaking down into small geysers of mud.

In the still intensifying rain, the jagged silhouette of House's jerky gait had just made its appearance.

"See who's coming..." Zieg said suspiciously before resuming a more ironic tone. "You were right Aliya, you had not quite finished the work. Obviously, you can't do anything as soon as I'm not here..."

This mocking remark earned him a pinch from Oce.

"Ouch! Is this going to become a habit, or what?"

"Obviously, it works," the bunny countered, offering him a satisfied smile.

"Oh! House has indeed almost disappeared, in this dark and damp forest... " commented the puppet demon while stopping a few meters away from Umbra's carcass. "When he has finished what he has to do here, he will go back there to slaughter that ugly coyote, as well as all the members of his tribe...Isn't it my lovely beauty? Hinhinhin..."

As he spoke, he had removed from his belt this despicable mammalian waste with which he had visibly woven a most unhealthy relationship.

"House..." Umbra shifted, flapping her wings, but slowly losing her energy as death seized her. "You...you betrayed me ..."

The puppet gave her a thin smile before making a slight laugh.

"You betrayed yourself alone. House doesn't betray. He kills, that's all."

"Decidedly, you can't trust anyone in this crazy country..." commented Luckyz. "This is at least the fiftieth betrayal since the beginning of this story. I wonder who will betray me and when..."

"Not the moment for these philosophical thoughts, Luckyz..." Reynart interrupted, who remained on his guard. "We are in a critical situation..."

"Why this ? We are more numerous than him," countered the black wolf. "And this time he can't hide anymore. "

"House doesn't hide. House is watching. And he massacres as he wishes."

"I gave you life..." Umbra argued. "It's not...like that...that it had to happen..."

"House is going to shed a tear," The puppet dropped, bending his head roughly to the side and forcing an expression of sadness that gradually turned into a cruel smile. "The Creator has given life to all of you, and yet he has betrayed you all in the same process. Why respect those who created us when we surpass them? House is more apt than you to accomplish your mission. That's why you die, it's in the order of things. Life is an overvalued notion."

He held out his little doll in the direction of the sphinx, and made her pathetically move with his long, sickly fingers, as if to infuse it with a pastiche of life.

"House is right, you know," he said in a high-pitched voice, as if he wanted the doll to speak in its place. "The Creator is an ugly villain. House will stack the corpses of his creations to the heavens, and he will then kill the mean Creator."

The dread puppet then turned his monstrous face to all the other mammals in presence, and in his eyes was only visible coldness more icy even than the darkest depths of the Underealms.

"That's what you all want, right?" he said in a voice devoid of emotion. "House will fulfill your wish, and you will all die for it."

No sooner had House finished his sentence than he threw his right arm straight at Thomas, who was still on the watch near Umbra. The Hunter tried to dodge the member, but it had his own will, and pursued the lynx in his retreat, immediately engaging him in hand-to-hand combat with violent brutality.

The hostilities officially opened, Samael didn't lose a second. Hardly had House attacked Thomas that the demonic wolf jumped up and growled. The puppet intercepted him in full flight with a triple volley of his invisible projectiles, which repulsed the demon, but failed to seriously damage his legendary iron flesh.

In the guise of Samael's assault, Aliya and Oce threw themselves on the right and left flanks of House, eager to take advantage of his blind spot, while Reynart charged a terrifying electric attack, which he projected directly onto his target.

At the moment of being hit by this multiple attacks, House then completely dislocated his body, fracturing into multiple disgusting pieces, which scattered several meters. Reynart's attack, nevertheless, exploded against the largest part of the chest, which literally grilled on the spot under the force of his electric energy.

"You have to destroy all the parts!" Aliya said confidently. "I'm sure that the slightest fiber allows him to fully recover!"

"I think it's the doll, the source of its power," contradicted Reynart, this remark earned him a violent look from the corsac vixen, who was obviously still very angry at him.

"I'm going to burn everything, it will be easier!" shouted Zieg, who, flying in the air, had accumulated a gigantic quantity of flames in a burning sphere of extravagant dimensions. "Keep them nearby, you have nothing to fear from my flames!"

"I will not let any of them escape, anyway," added Ned, who, with his bewitched cloak, was flying alongside Zieg.

The fox gave him a cautious look, not used to being next to other flying mammals. The rabbit replied with a wink, before starting a complex series of cabalistic signs, which he made at lightning speed with his eight fingers.

In doing so, he created a mystical energy field that took the form of a bluish dome in which highlighted arcanic symbols, cutting the area of battle from the rest of the world.

"Perfect..." Zieg said, preparing to project his fireball with all his strength.

"They...they're monsters..." Ramic commented piteously, staying away from the fight.

"It reminds me of the fireworks of the July celebrations," added Luckyz, who obviously didn't feel like participating in the fight either.

It was at this moment that each piece of House's body began to vibrate, and instantly, a fine bundle of dark energy connected them all. Most of the combatants involved in the confrontation managed to avoid the contact of these spectral fibers, but Reynart and Samael brushed them a little too closely, and the fur and flesh that touched were burned with a corrosive acid.

"Get away from that!" shouted the master of arms, throwing himself back, a paw pressed against his injured arm.

"Impossible !" countered Oce immediately. "We have to make sure all the pieces are destroyed."

"You'd better worry about that, rather!" Thomas grumbled, still struggling with House's right arm, finding out what these mystical fibers were plotting on Umbra's side.

All eyes then turned in that direction, to find that House's little doll, that piece of filthy burlap stitched on all sides, attracted to her the entirety of her master's energy threads, and channeled them by aspiring the greenish energy of souls collected by Umbra, the sphinx no longer having the strength to contain them anymore.

"We have to stop it right now!" exclaimed Oce.

"Too late," whispered House, his head floating in the air a few inches from the bunny's ears.

While Zieg, reluctant to project his inflamed attack because of the setbacks suffered by his companions below, finally decided to try everything and to launch it, a flash of intense light illuminated the muddy steppe, soon followed by a wave of phenomenal mystic energy. Ned's arcanic dome was literally pulverized by pressure, and he, like Zieg, was thrown to the ground about twenty meters away.

"What happened ?" asked the brown rabbit, straightening up quickly, followed in his movement by the fox demon.

"No idea..." Zieg replied, returning his attention to the combat zone.

All the fighters had been pushed away concentrically around the central point where Umbra still rested. At her side stood House, reconstituted. However, his appearance had changed.

His two dorsal scythes were spread out, and now dripped with dark energy as opaque as the dark eternities. A second pair of spectral-looking arms floated above his shoulders, connected to his body by spooky lines. And two angelic wings, shining with a pale light, sprang from his back and slowly flapped, allowing him to stand a few inches above the muddy ground.

"House has long studied the rites that allowed his creator to model and make his imperfect body..." said the entity in a mystical voice, which was expressed directly in the minds of those to whom he wished to send his message. "It was only transitory. House only needed enough energy to complete what Umbra had not been able to accomplish. Now this puppet is perfect."

House looked up at the heavens, and smiled peacefully.

"He can become the new Creator, instead of the one who failed."

Reynart sat up, grumbling. The last assault was violent for everyone.

"This thing gives off phenomenal energy..." he declared. "I'm not sure we'll be able to defeat him anymore, now."

"He draws strength from the souls he has stolen," countered Oce. "We can take them back."

"And how are you going to do that?" Asked Samael, who for the first time since the beginning of the fight seemed to have lost his confidence.

"I...I don't know..." the bunny admitted.

"House...is not...a natural...creature ..." Umbra stammered in a dying voice for the fighters, the face of her creation turning fiercely to her. "Even in this ultimate…form...he can't...connect his own soul...to his...body..."

"House has heard you enough. "

An invisible shot with terrifying power hit Umbra hard, putting an end to her remarks killing her instantly.

"You junk!" Thomas Cataro shouted, snapping multiple bolts from his crossbow towards the entity facing him.

A placid smile on his lips, House merely twirled his metal scythes as a shield to reduce the projectiles to the state of wooden chips. Then he held out his paw to the lynx that was still charging towards him, and at the same time displayed ten spears of light that flew in the direction of his target at full speed.

Thomas leapt with elegance, spinning in the middle of the magic projectiles, dodging with agility, only to find himself hit directly on the chest by one of the demon's scythe, which pierced him through and through.

"One less..." the creature murmured, before throwing the Hunter's carcass against Umbra's dying body.

"Thomas, no!" Oce shouted, as Samael threw himself in the direction of their opponent, leaving the fury of what had happened to his friend to give his body even more strength.

Motivated by the wolf demon's boldness, all the fighters, including Luckyz, stormed House, screaming for their rage and motivation to overcome an unpredictable and overpowered adversary.

House's ghostly arms then slid off his shoulders, and sank into the ground, before changing their shapes to become copies of their controller, densifying their ethereal nature to interact with the physical world. There was now three House against all these fighters, one confronting Samael and Ned, the other tackling Reynart, Luckyz and Aliya, the latter targeting Zieg and Oce.

The clones had all the incredible abilities of the dread puppet. In fact, to distinguish the original from his duplicates was impossible, and the violence of the three simultaneous clashes created a frightful chaos, with false airs of the Apocalypse.

"Don't let yourself be impressed, bun bun!" Zieg shouted as the floor literally exploded under his feet because of one of their opponent's white energy shots.

"Easy to say..." moaned the bunny, who could only dodge the battery of fire that their enemy sent to them, without even having the opportunity to reply with an assault of her own.

Zieg threw himself against his partner, seizing her in his arms gracefully, before taking off at full speed, to put them, even for a moment, out of reach of their adversary. But it was forgetting the fact that House also had wings now...and he wasn't going to let his opponents escape his deadly company.

"It's not fair!" Zieg complained, glancing over his shoulder, noting that their pursuer was only a few meters away from them. "It was my thing to fly!"

"You might have to file a copyright!"

"Funny..." Zieg conceded in a laughing voice. "The last time I confronted this bastard, he tore me to pieces. Then, when I had recovered my heart and all my strength and I could have taken my revenge, he then received an upgrade! What a son of a bi…"

Oce squeezed his fox's snout with both paws.

"I know we're rated M, but still..." the bunny countered wildly.

No sooner had she uttered these words than Zieg imposed on her a swirling air waltz of the most nauseating fashion. House had come close enough to adjust precision shots, and the demon-fox was, in fact, forced to flit in all directions to dodge the projectiles. The bunny was screaming to break her throat, her paws clutching tightly around her partner's neck.

"You...you're strangling me..." Zieg managed to gasp around her clutches.

The bunny glanced at their pursuer, who was right in their lineup, and seemed to be adjusting a shot.

"Zieg! Pew Pew attack, now!" she yelled, grabbing the fox's paw.

"Frame my shot, then!" Zieg replied, letting the bunny steer his paw in the direction of their assailant.

"Pew!" The bunny shouted, a vocal code that made her partner understand that he could throw a fireball.

The fox demon didn't make himself pray, letting several bursts of corrupt flames leap from his paws. Oce framed the shots, moving his arm as best as she could, telling him to fire by screaming furious "Pew! Pew!'s".

Forced to dodge the shots brought to his attention, House was no longer able to counterattack. Zieg then flitted just above the ground, the puppet on his heels and at the last moment, the fox spread his wings, suddenly stopping his own fall. House barely failed to hit them hard, and caught in his dodging movement, he couldn't see the unconventional assault that followed. Oce, using Zieg's scarf as a lasso, squeezed the puppet's throat, and caught him like a flying-fish.

"I've got you," she declared triumphantly.

"No...House got you!" countered the puppet, sweeping the air of his two dorsal scythes.

Zieg offered him a powerful jaw kick in the muzzle, destabilizing his attack, and allowing Oce to fit a perfect crossbow shot straight into his opponent's left eye. The shot from close range literally crossed his head in a sheaf of blood, and House screamed in pain as he carried his clawed paws to his face.

"Hold me tight, Oce!" Zieg ordered, the bunny literally curling up against him and clutching him with all her strength.

Zieg then wrapped around House's body, enclosing him inside the cocoon formed by his folded wings.

"I'm going to burn you up, you shitty false god!" the fox let go, letting the heat of the flame of his horns become denser.

"You will not do anything," countered House. "Or the bunny will burn with House."

"No chance," replied Oce. "His flames can't harm me."

The puppet's valid eye widened then as he began to slash everything he could reach with his scythes, cutting into Zieg's wings like in butter. The fox clenched his fangs, enduring the pain, before literally igniting. His frontal flame diluted like water, and flowed along his own body in the manner of a second epidermis... The intense fire gently stroked the coat of Oce, who felt nothing more than comfortable and intimate warmth ... For House, however, it was not the same. The flames, hotter than the pit of hell itself, assaulted him like an invasive magma, flowing into the smallest interstices of his being, consuming him from within the same as from without. His screams of agony were absolutely atrocious, and the bunny, like the fox, had to grit their teeth so as not to start screaming in their turn...

Zieg eventually reached the ground, somewhat brutally and awkwardly, his shredded wings unable to support him effectively anymore. The fox released House's ashy carcass before landing, slipping in the mud while turning on his back to take the most of the shock without Oce being hurt.

The two allies paused, remaining silent for a few seconds, astonished to still be alive. Then burst out laughing at the same time, letting the pressure and anguish escape.

However, Zieg straightened quickly, to make sure House was burned to ashes.

There was almost nothing left of his disgusting carcass, which continued to burn and waste away, gradually disappearing into a macabre dust... In the center of the disparate remains was the little doll dear to the heart of House... and finally, this one burned in its turn. The words of Umbra had made them understand that destroying this piece of the creature was destroying House for good. Both partners were lucky, they had obviously been chased by the original House.

Zieg stepped towards Oce with a perky stride, while the bunny stood up.

"We're done with this assho..." the fox started, not having time to finish his sentence.

Oce's eyes widened, while in a final murderous move, House's half-broken crook paw opened in the direction of Zieg, generating a final attack. The bunny threw herself against the demon fox, pushing him out of reach of the projectile before feeling an intrinsic pain collide with her chest.

She cast an uncertain look down, and didn't at first understand from where the phenomenal amount of blood was flowing from in cascading waves. Seized by a sudden, intense cold, Oce fell on her knees, the little bit of wind produced by her fall proving sufficient to scatter the last ashes that consumed the ultimate fragments of what had been the demon House.

Zieg stood petrified for a moment, before literally crawling up to the bunny, who continued to look at her wound with surprise, as if she didn't really understand what was happening to her.

"Why?" Zieg shouted. "I...I could have taken that...you...Oce...look at me..."

The bunny seemed to react to her partner's voice and turned her eyes to him. She managed to keep it for half a second, looking at the frightened tears that was flowing from the fox's eyes before her field of vision tilted backwards. Her eyes rolled back under her eyelids, and a loud, tremulous exhale came from her before she went silent.

"Oce?" Zieg whispered nervously.

The fox was still gripping the body of the bunny by the shoulders. He shook her pitifully from his trembling paws, trying to make her react, yet only her head shook as if unattached, jittering back and forth, no longer moved by the energy of life.

"Oce ...?" The fox demon cried again, without really waiting for an answer.

He let the dead body of the bunny fall against him and squeezed it with all his might, closing his wings around her in a final movement of protection, maybe hoping to also conceal the atrocious pain that tore the heart that he had so much desired to recover.

* * *

The fight had been terrible for all the belligerents. The two clones of House were just as strong and dangerous as the original and had caused a lot of problems to the other fighters. However, once the main puppet was burned to ashes by Zieg, his secondary counterparts slowly evaporated, releasing the allies of the demon-fox from their hostile presence.

When Zieg joined the others, Oce's lifeless body in his arms, he found them wounded and exhausted, but fortunately alive. Thomas was under Ned's mystical care, who had even bothered to ensure the survival of an agonizing Umbra by applying emergency first aid on her.

All turned to look at the fox, and instead of the emotion of triumph they would have liked to share with their friend, they all had to face the terrible consequence that accompanied their victory. Someone, unfortunately, had to pay the price...

Despite the dignified expression he displayed, the pain Zieg felt was palpable, almost like an infectious aura spreading around him. Aliya burst into tears in the arms of Reynart, who couldn't hold back the silent tears that flowed from his haggard eyes. Samael's grief was expressed by his rage, which he showed by lashing out against the ashes of House, which he maltreated and scattered to the four winds with furious screams.

Ned bowed his head, while Zieg placed Oce at his feet. Luckyz, who was a few steps away, opened his mouth, but no sound came out, except for a strangled sob. The black wolf folded his hood over his eyes to hide his tears, before moving away from the group to wail uncontrollably.

Ramic approached Zieg with a cautious step. He still held his little stuffed animals between his paws. Without a word, he knelt beside the dead body of the bunny, and deposited his creations on her mutilated chest.

"We made a deal..." he stammered trying to hold back tears. "I...I really have to be a bad demon. I...I failed, again..."

Zieg put his paw on the kangaroo's shoulder. His throat was tied, as he tried to swallow his own pain. It was difficult for him to help others overcome it.

"That's wrong ..." muttered Zieg. "And if a pact really links you to her, then you can help me save her."

Ramic turned his face streaming with tears at the demon fox, questioning him with his eyes.

"It's a gift that I can't do by myself, unfortunately, because my heart was the knot of the pact that bound us, Oce and I...but the pact that ties you to her still allows you to act in her interest."

"I don't understand what you're trying to explain..."

"The pacts that bind us to mortals are not just words. I don't know if you did it seriously or on the stroke of emotion, but the fact is there: you are associated with Oce, Ramic, under the form of a link of the soul."

"And how can I help her?" the kangaroo asked, shaking his head.

The fox didn't answer with words, contenting himself with spreading his scarf to reveal his chest, where the cicatricial marks of flesh that had recently closed around his heart were still visible.

Ramic's eyes widened, visibly scared.

"No. No!" he replied. "You can't ask me to do that!"

"And you, are you really ready to assume the consequences?" Samael asked, who had come closer and caught the conversation. "Six years in the Underealms must have been enough for you to not want to go back there, right?"

"If it allows her to live, I'm willing to spend the rest of my immortal life in such a place," replied the fox soberly.

"I...I can't let you do that," Reynart interjected. "We had projects! I waited so long for you to come back and..."

"And you would like to lose Oce, your dear disciple?" Zieg asked back.

Reynart's muzzle closed, and his gaze slid from Oce's body to Aliya, who was looking in his direction, completely annihilated.

"It's not fair!" Shouted the master of arms, letting lightning escape from his fists, clenched with frustration.

"Can you be summoned again?" Ned asked, casting a wary eye at the fox who had earned his respect.

"I don't know," Zieg replied with detachment. "The requirements for invoking an entity of my nature are extremely complex to accomplish. Anyway, that's not the question. I made my decision. Ramic, if you don't do it, I'll rip it myself anyway."

"It would be totally useless, and you know it well," Samael countered, rolling his eyes. "You always have to milk it."

Ramic sighed before nodding.

"Well, I understand. I.. I have to act in the interest of my pact. And...and for the sake of the ship."

"Exactly," Zieg affirmed, before leaning over him, raising his muzzle to give him free access to his ribcage.

The kangaroo swallowed dry, before stretching his clawed but still trembling paws toward the fox's chest.

Zieg glanced at Samael and Reynart, before offering them a complicit wink.

"See you!"

* * *

The black screen of the dark energy sphere cracked like a gaping wound, and a black, thick, foul-smelling liquid spread to the floor in a splashing crash. The winged form, oozing of a dark and thick corrupted tar, collapsed in the middle of the pentacle which had been traced on the ground with great care.

The entity inhaled a first gulp of cold air, before belching slightly, slowly straightening by spreading its membranous wings which literally dripped from this dark and viscous fluid. Once again opening the eyes to the reality of the physical world, the creature managed to distinguish the blurred form of the one that had just invoked it from the infernal kingdoms of the Underealms.

"Hi bun bun!" the Fox demon croaked in a raspy, and still sticky, voice.

He didn't have time to notice the slightest movement that his muzzle was punched hard.

Zieg grabbed his bruised nose between his paws and moaned like a wounded little animal.

"That's how you welcome me..."

He could not finish his sentence that the hot lips of the bunny landed on his, while with a supernatural force, she pressed him against the wall of the crypt, putting him totally at her mercy.

She finally pulled away from him, leaving him haggard and out of breath, wide-eyed and a stupid smile on his face.

"Hi sugar fox!" said Oce finally, before plunging her eyes into that of her lover.

The pupils of the bunny were now circled with a beautiful blood-red ring.

That wasn't surprising, since the heart of her demon was now beating in her chest.

 _~ End ~_


	11. The Epilogue (by Cimar-WildeHopps)

_OceRydia and Ziegelzeig notes : Thank you to everyone who followed this project and shared this adventure along us. This epilogue was written by the very talented Cimar-WildeHopps, author of many successful fanfictions of Zootopia, which we strongly recommend you to read (like **REALLY** ). Thank you so much for taking the time to write this funny and romantic conclusion, Cimar!_

* * *

 **The Epilogue**

 _Six Months Later_...

 **Chop**...

 **Chop**...

 **Chop**...

The cracking and groaning of wood filled the woods as the heavy oak slowly toppled to the forest floor, shaking the ground as it landed.

"I think we're good for helping out Mr Shepherdson today, Samael."

The massive black wolf nodded, placing down the axe and looking at it curiously. "I still find it amusing you have me use this axe when my claws would do quite nicely by themselves, Thomas."

The white lynx shrugged, smiling up at the larger predator. "You wanted to regain your mind fully, correct? Then having to learn focus with each swing will help you accomplish that bit by bit."

"Or just make him your personal woodcutting pet..."

The wolf and lynx looked back towards the Sphinx sitting against a tree nearby. Umbra tugged at the leash around her neck. "I mean, you already have one pet, so why not two?"

The two enemies-turned-friends in Samael and Thomas looked at each other and nodded, speaking wordlessly as they've learned to do around each other. Samael went to the fallen tree and began tying chains around it, preparing it to take to a local farmer for firewood in the coming winter, while Thomas walked over to Umbra, kneeling in front of her. The pair stared at one another for a time, until Umbra turned her head and averted her gaze.

"You know there is more to life than just your own wants and desires, Umbra?"

She snorted. "Any desires I had died off when this," she jingled the magic leash and collar, "was chained to me."

"You know how to have that removed," Thomas submitted. "Why are you being so stubborn about this? Why can't you decide to be good? Samael and I have been trying for months now to get you to see the good in life and how helping others can elevate your soul."

The lynx turned and waved towards Samael, who had finished chaining the log and stood by, watching with a smile as several butterflies danced in the air around him. "We've both come a long ways in six months. From enemies to friends, and have decided we both need to help each other to become better. For him to regain his memories and kindess..."

Thomas turned and, upon spotting a rose nearby, plucked the flower and showed it to Umbra. "...and for me to realize that there is a balance in everything, and not to be so stubborn on what I think. Just like this rose, it is neither good nor bad. Sure its thorns can harm, or allergies in some mammals cause them annoyance from its existence, but that doesn't mean it is bad."

He frowned when he saw a grimace upon the sphinx's face. Sighing, he offered the red flower to the large feline. "You may have chosen evil before, but that doesn't mean you can't change your ways, Umbra."

The larger cat slapped the offered rose away, the flower losing several petals as it tumbled across the ground. Thomas lowered his head, the lynx slowly standing without losing his gaze on the other feline. "I know one day you will change."

The lynx turned and grabbed the end of the magical leash that kept Umbra's drained powers from showing and began walking back towards the village. Yet unbeknownst to the white lynx, Umbra quickly reached out and snatched up the rose, placing it over her heart as she bowed her head.

"I know you want me to be good," she whispered so low that even her mind and heart had trouble hearing her. "But if I do become good, then maybe I won't be able to spend so much time around you. And I've come to realize that is a worse fate than any I could have supposed before..."

She felt a tug on the leash. Her eyes darting up, she spotted the emotionless faces of Samael and Catro looking at her, waiting for her to follow them. Hiding the rose in her palm, she followed after the demon wolf and lynx hunter, her eyes never leaving the sight of Catro's swishing tail as they walked.

* * *

"Alright mammals! Now remember, what is the most important thing about being a hunter!"

The assembled mammals internally groaned, yet stayed silent as the pure black wolf walked past them, nearly tripping over his own tail. "Anyone? Fine. The first rule of being a hunter, is to always patrol near a good toilet, so that way you don't have to go out in the woods. It is much better that way, and besides, the villains you hunt won't want to be far from a good toilet either, so you must stay close by one at all times!"

Luckyz continued his speech to the newest recruited hunters, the rest of the Redcounty Hunters watching their leader with amusement as he went on about proper toilet etiquette. Especially watching the faces of the new recruits as the wolf described, in detail, the horrors of going in the woods without anything to wipe with after. The speech lasted another few minutes, before Luckyz welcomed the recruits and sent them off to their drill instructor, a massive buffalo named Behe.

"Ah, that was fun." Luckyz sauntered past his troops, the hunters under him giving him crisp salutes. Lyckyz returned it, only to stumble and nearly fall again. Yet he stayed on his paws and made his way to his captain's quarters. It had been a few months since his promotion, and he greatly enjoyed the added luxuries his position afforded him...

...such as the private loo for only his use.

That, and as he closed the door, he thought of the other part he enjoyed, being next to the kitchen. The wolf quickly went to the mess hall, grabbed a meal to go, a juicy turkey sandwich, before returning to his quarters.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at a map above his desk. "Now where would you be hiding..." he mused, leaning back a tad further than he should. The chair creaked, then slid on the wooden floor, tossing him uncomfortably onto the floor with a crash.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" he shouted as the rush of paws sounded from outside, his door flinging open as several hunters appeared.

"Are you okay, Luckyz?"

"Are you good, boss?"

Luckyz nodded and grinned, waving off his fellow hunters who, once again, asked him to be more careful. Setting his chair back up, and nearly falling over it once more, he finally sat back down to finish the sandwich and stare at the map before him.

He'd been following the trail of the latest demon; one who would corrupt the pure spirits of mammals and create demonic dopplegangers of them. He'd had the displeasure of fighting several such dopplegangers, only catching the briefest glimpse of the demonic mammal behind the bewitchings.

"Those poor mammals..." Luckyz said, a pout growing across his muzzle. "I wish that I can keep any more from being possessed like this. I imagine it isn't very nice to go to the toilet while possessed..."

* * *

Aliya was nervous. It wasn't a battle she was facing, or a new demonic foe...but something far greater. Something you anticipate with growing dread, hoping it will only go one way, though every other scenario flashes through your mind constantly with a pulling weight that only wracks your nerves to an ever higher level.

A paw reached out to hold hers, and her fears assuaged some. They were still there, but, Siljan's paw holding her own provided the comfort she needed to get through this next event...

Introducing her fiancé to the mammal she viewed as a father, Joseph Reynart.

"It will be okay," Silljan whispered, squeezing her paw. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere, nor leaving your side, so even if he doesn't like me, he'll have to accept that I will never be leaving your side."

Aliya blushed heavily, even more so as Siljan placed a light kiss against her cheek. The orange furred fox smiled, just being next to his fiance after so long bringing him a warmth and happiness he hadn't felt since she'd left the Eastern continent. Aliya snuggled into his embrace, letting one paw slid across his shirt, feeling his toned chest beneath it. Siljan smiled, leading Aliya's muzzle upwards towards his until they met with a kiss. "I didn't traverse the deadliest continent on the planet, fighting off brigands and the weather, then sail an ocean which filled with storms and pirates, just to have our love divided any longer."

"I know..." Aliya whispered back. "Though if we ever see any of them again, I will let them know how I feel about them attacking my fiancé!" The slight growl coming from the smaller corsac vixen.

Siljan chuckled. "You won't have to worry about them. As I said, nobody could keep me from being by your side. They are all either still laying where they fell, or the sea has claimed them. You have nothing to fear, my love."

"Ahem."

The two younger mammals flinched. Turning around slowly, they saw agrizzled brown furred fox standing behind them with arms folded across his chest. Light sparks flashed from his fingertips, gaining a nervous gulp from Siljan.

"Master Reynart..."

Siljan stood, and even though his height was uncommon for a fox, he found himself staring up into the eyes of Aliya's mentor and father figure.

Joseph grunted. "I think you do have at least one thing to fear. Myself."

"Aliya groaned. "Master, are you going to treat my fiance like all the other males that approached me."

He nodded. "Do you think I'd let any scruffy furred varmit come close to my daughter?" He unfolded his arms and took a step towards Siljan, who surprisingly stood firm, facing down the much more powerful, and right now, downright angry, looking fox. "Look here you punk. I'm not letting anyone near my daughter who doesn't automatically think of her as the holiest relic to have ever graced this continent."

"Master..."

Reynart poked Siljan in the chest, shocking the young mammal, who jumped at the sudden electricity hitting him. "And so far, you've only been treating her like a princess from a lowly barony..."

"Father..."

"...so right now. All I'm seeing is some random mammal who doesn't have the decency or knowledge to know when he is in the presence of the holiest of all of God's creations..."

"Joseph Reynart!"

The larger fox halted his tirade, his finger still poking the chest of Siljan, who was leaning back as Reynart towered over him. Aliya stood with her arms at her sides, a paw clenched while her right paw was pointed towards Reynart. "Siljan treats me with nothing but respect and love, to such a degree that I have never once felt uncherished by him in any means or ways. He has been nothing but kind and thoughtful towards me since I've met him, or have you forgotten that this is the same fox who rescued me, when I was injured, from that hoard of bandits by fighting all of them off until he tottered back to me barely alive?!"

Aliya took a step forward, actually causing her mentor to turn to face her and blink in uncertainty. "Aliya..."

"Don't you start right now," the vixen began, taking several more steps towards Reynart and poked him in the chest. "You better start treating Siljan with respect, or heaven's help me I'll go back to hunting demons with one topping the list!"

Reynart nodded slowly, glad to see that the happy expression returned to his adopted daughter's face. He turned, focusing his attention back on Siljan, who was smiling warmly at Aliya, and only broke his gaze when he felt Reynart staring him down.

"Sir," Siljan began quietly, with his voice picking up as he went along. "I know you care deeply for your daughter, as do I. She is precious to me above all the diamonds of the world. More beautiful than the fairest nymph of the Golden Woods, purer than freshly fallen snow, and the one vixen who has taken my heart, and dare would I want to hurt her by even thinking a passing thought of asking it back." Siljan saw Joseph giving him his full attention, so he continued, his voice becoming even stronger. "But also know that I will do anything to make sure she is treated above the greatest of royalty on this earth, or of any others that could be out among the stars. I will make sure she is cared for, loved, and always knows she is appreciated. And if you don't approve of us being together, for any reason..."

Siljan took a step forward, eyeing up the larger fox, a cold steel in his gaze. "Then I will fight whoever tries to make her unhappy, go any distance to find what would bring a smile to her muzzle, and do whatever is necessary to make sure she is treated like a goddess...even if it means I have to stand against you to do so."

There was a thick silence and tension in the air as the two male foxes stared each other down, Aliya watching on nervously as her father figure unfolded his arms and cracked his knuckles.

"You would fight me, to win my daughter and give her the happiness she deserves?"

Siljan's reply was immediate.

"I would fight a thousand of you if it meant I could be near her to make her happy like she wishes."

The smaller red fox only turned his gaze from Reynart to look upon the face of Aliya, who was smiling warmly at him while wiping a tear from her eyes. Siljan, shocked, abandoned his place before her mentor and rushed to her side, pulling out a pawkerchief as he did and dabbed at her tears.

"Don't be sad, my beloved," he whispered. "Whatever it is you wish to make you happy, I will do so."

Aliya let out a hiccuping laugh. "That's you, you dumb dumb."

"While I hate to interrupt..."

The two lovebirds turned to see Reynart approaching them, a blank expression on his face. "However, I believe I have a meeting at the pub to attend to, and Siljan will be coming with me."

Both Siljan's and Aliya's ears perked up. "R...really?" Siljan began. "What for?"

Reynart grinned. "To make sure you mean everything you said if you want to truly marry my daughter."

Siljan nodded, placed one last kiss upon Aliya's paw before walking after Joseph, hope filling all three mammals.

* * *

"This sandstorm isn't natural!"

"Of course it isn't! It's that little devil at work again! Keep your supplies close to you and hope he doesn't find us!"

The travelers crossing the desert pushed forward against the biting winds and blistering sand pelting them from seemingly all directions. The storm had came from nowhere, surprising them all, not allowing any to get ready for the rush of sand and pain. A hippo, the leader of the group, attempted to shield several from the scorching sand, yet with how the winds whipped it around from all directions, it only brought more misery upon the larger mammal.

"Eeeehehehehehehehehe!"

The traveler's ears perked up as the soft toned cackling laughter echoed around them.

"It's the demon!" the hippo yelled. "Be prepared for anything!"

The cackling laughter quickened as the storm did, the group shielding their eyes, with most falling to the ground to prevent the splitting desert sands from stinging their eyes and fur.

Then in a moment, the storm abated, and for the briefest of moments, the sand whipping about them hung in the air as if suspended in time. Several in the party, at the cessation of noise and wind and pain bravely blinked their eyes, only to be enthralled by the sight. Just as quickly as the storm stopped, the sand rained down, showering them in a light storm before all that was above them was clear, blue skies…

...and a cackling imp.

"Oh, that was beautiful! Did you see what I did with the sand? Did you? Did you?"

The leader of the group drew his sword. "I saw what you did, you nearly killed us you-"

"I wasn't talking to you, geez. Sebastian, did you see what I did? Huh? Huh?"

The entire group was left blinking in surprise when a silver blue wolf strode up next to the floating imp. "I did see, and that was quite impressive to be able to do that. And beautiful as well." The wolf withdrew a packaged sweet from his pocket and tossed it to the demon, who tore into it voraciously while the former hunter approached the now surprised, and wary, group.

"Friends, we apologize for not arriving sooner to free you from this storm. There are so many plaguing the area, and we can only move so fast." It was then Sebastian noticed the lack of gear among the group, as well as canteens that only clacked, and didn't slosh with filled water. "I see you are without supplies. Come, there is an oasis not far from here where we can supply you with food and drink."

"And sweets!" Michael added. "The toll is one sweet per traveler."

Sebastian's chuckle filled the desert air, before grabbing the imp by his vest. "Michael, you'll ruin your dinner if you have any more, and I've heard that Reader has prepared quite a feast..and desserts, for us when we return."

"Oh! Then we must hurry!" Michael whipped out his flute. "I shall play a song to push us along at a quicker beat!" The imp quickly began to play a marching tune, floating along in the air with a smile while Sebastian motioned the group to follow. Looking at their empty canteens, and with a promise of food and drink awaiting them, the group followed the former hunter and demon into the desert.

* * *

"Where are we?"

Ake'cheta smiled, bringing his wife, Roxxie, closer to her as they travelled deeper into the forests within the Dark Valley. The pair had travelled deep into the woods to a sheltered glade, one not visited often by those who dwelt within the Dark Valley itself. "The abode of a friend," the coyote mystic replied. "The one who watches over our forests and see's all."

The female skunk's eyes widened. "You don't mean…?"

He nodded.

Glee overtook Roxxie, as she excitedly looked around. "So, where is this hunking lizard I keep hearing everyone talking about?"

Ake'cheta chuckled, then pointed towards the entrance of a large, ominous cave behind a rapidly falling waterfall. "He's in there, though I wouldn't call him a 'lizard' if I were you.

Roxxie just smirked before gently tapping the side of Ake'cheta's muzzle. "Oh, whatever nickname a woman decides for a man, it becomes part of who he is, so good ole Dagonn will just have to accept what the women of the woods call him, just like you have to accept what I refer to you as when I'm with friends.

Ake'cheta blinked as Roxxie strolled towards the cave, her tail flicking back and forth. Starting from his shock, he strode forward after his mate. "Wait...what do you call me before the others?"

"How long is this cave?" she answered.

"Fairly long…it will take a while to get through to where The Diviner resides."

Roxxie smiled coyly. "There's your answer…"

Ake'cheta's head turned to the side, his steps halting while his wife walked on. "I don't get it…?"

The ethereal temple they walked through delighted Roxxie, who marvelled at the beauty of its construct as they purposefully strode through its hallowed cavern. It wasn't until they arrived at a massive archway did Ake'cheta's paw find Roxxie's shoulder, bringing the smaller mammal to a halt.

"We've arrived."

Roxxie looked around. "So, uh...where is he? Will he make a grand entrance or something? Fly down from the ceiling? Sneak up behind us like how I did to you last week?"

Ake'cheta glowered. "I thought we agreed to not bring such topics up before others?"

"I don't see any others here," Roxxie shot back. "All I see is that large scroll jabbed into that gnarled tree with a big ole' knife."

"Wait...what?" Ake'cheta walked, then strode, then as he neared the central tree, dashed forward until he came to the paper, ripping it from the knife's clutches. Roxxie strode up behind him.

"So, what does it say? Has he gone on a vacation to get a tan as this cave doesn't seem the best place for anyone to get some well needed sun."

Ake'cheta frowned as he finished the note. "Lord Dagonn is travelling throughout the land of Hallows to understand more about the corrupted magic which allowed the Dread Puppet House to be made."

"So...we won't see him today then."

He shook his head. "No, and not only that, but he left the valley's care to...me."

"To you?"

Both mammals stood there for a moment, the slight trickling of water into an underground pool the only sound around them. The quiet allowed them to think about the revelation of Lord Dagonn leaving his abode for the first time in centuries. It was at least the first time they had heard of it happening throughout their tribes' history.

Roxxie was the one to finally break the silence. "Well, this was a waste of time…"

Ake'cheta blinked and turned to his wife. Before he could utter a statement though, she grasped his muzzle gently and guided it down. Before he knew it, he was face to face with a grinning skunkette, whose sultry gaze quickened his heart. "Though I can think of a way to make it a success."

* * *

"Now remember, love can conquer all! And be kind to others!"

The kangaroo demon waved to the couples leaving his newly refurbished chapel. Sighing happily to himself and a spring in his hop, Ramic moved back inside, out of the biting chill that permeated the Deadly North regions. Looking around the chapel, now within the town limits, Ramic couldn't help but keep a smile from spreading across his muzzle. The new laws allowing marriages of love, along with other rules put into place had greatly helped young couples find mates.

"Oh, love and kindness are in the very fabric of the air!"

A loud scoff rang from the opposite end of the chapel. Ramic shook his head. "Oh come now, certainly you will come to your senses and see that love is so much better than killing! You can't have love when dead, you know, and love is so exquisite!"

"You are so annoying…" the lynx growled, glaring at the kangaroo. "Why was I summoned back to this world, only to escape from the south to wind up with such a hideously happy mammal."

"Why thank you!" Ramic replied. "And you, I know, have a soul of goodness somewhere deep, deep...deep inside you, Arten. And I'm just the mammal to help you find it!"

"Come on…" Ramic drawled, heading towards the lynx who took a step back while extending his claws. "I know that deep down inside of you that you have a propensity for love! I mean...look at this couple!"

The kangaroo hopped over to a painting on the wall. Taking it lovingly in his paws, he turned it around for Judge Arten to see. "See?" Ramic said. "Isn't this such a beautiful couple?"

Even though the lynx prepared himself to shred the portrait to oblivion, as he knew he'd enjoy seeing the crestfallen look from the kangaroo, the feline couldn't help but look at the happy couple in the painting, looking at each other with such fondness. The grey bunny with black ear tips and amethyst eyes had such an appraising look of love as she stared up at the red fox with green eyes staring longingly down at her. The matching blue tunics seemed to show them both in the same profession, but it was that look of absolute adoration that filled their eyes….

Something stirred within his chest.

Arten hissed and stepped back, turning away from the painting, grabbing at his chest as he shook his head. No...I will not give in to such...goodness!

He was barely aware of the other demon poking his head next to his own. "Awww….I knew that painting would get to that stony heart of yours."

"Shut it!"

Arten turned faster than a blink of an eye and slashed at the kangaroo. Ramic let out a yelp and jumped back onto his tail, holding the painting high while avoiding the snarling feline.

"Oh good, the painting I call 'Absolute Love' is safe!" Ramic gently came back upon his feet, hopping over to the wall and placing it back upon the stonework facade. "Don't worry, Arten. I'm sure that with enough lessons and talk about true love you will come around."

Arten just growled.

* * *

Ned sighed as the mound of paperwork before him only seemed to have grown in the past several hours. Leaning back, he stretched his arms and smiled at the popping sounds from his shoulders, before stretching them to release the built up tension from staring at papers for so long.

Being the new leader of the Order of the Hunters wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"Paperwork..the bane of any organization," he grumbled as he decided a break was in order. He moved around the desk, only to be surprised when his shirt was grabbed and he found himself in the arms of his lover, her lips pressed against his own.

The kiss parted far too quickly for the spluttering and stupified bunny. "How...when...how did you get in here without me noticing?"

Nadine laughed, the cream furred doe pointing to the mountains of paper and scrolls upon Ned's desk. "You've been sitting there for about five hours now. I've been in and out of the room about seven times already without you noticing. I even ate a carrot as loudly as possible behind you and you didn't bat an ear."

"You...did?"

She nodded. "Uh huh. And I'm starting to feel a little bit left out that you'd chose this paperwork over me…" Her paw tapped against the frying pan holstered on her belt. Ned eyed the weapon, as well as the armor his bunny wore, a new addition as she decided, after the fight against Sire Potence and Umbra, that she should be well equipped to protect those she loved.

Ned stared blankly for a few moments. "But the paperwork on the new mission needs completion by sundown, and the supplies for-"

Nadine groaned loudly, her shoulders slumping before she threw her paws to the sky in exasperation. "Oh for the love of...males! Why are you so dense! It's always work, work, work!"

"But…"

Nadine grabbed him by his cloak and pulled him away from his desk. "Ned, we are going to have a nice long discussion about what needs and priorities are in your life."

"I enjoy a good philosophical discussion."

Nadine groaned again. "Males…"

* * *

The fox and bunny stood together, idly watching the storm outside diminishing in its ferocity. The storm itself had sent the pair running into their barely built home, laughing as the winds and rains pelted their fur, the knowledge that such rain would once again bring life to the barren landscape they had settled in.

The Ashes Lands were beginning to have life come to it once more, albeit, at a slow and cumbersome pace to the couple. Six months earlier they had returned to the lands together, Oce humbled and distraught over the destruction she and her hunters had been responsible for.

Yet Zieg hadn't blameed her. He'd only dried her tears, gave her a gentle kiss, and told her that everything would be alright. Together the pair had worked studiously to repair the distraught lands. Just like their relationship had healed, so too, would their home.

Zieg hadn't expected the reaction of saying, 'their home', would have on Oce. The doe sniffled, launched herself at Zieg, knocking him to the ground within a circle of flowers, and the pair didn't leave that spot for hours.

Don't mind a bit about that...Zieg thought as he stared out over the lands outside their burrow. Many of their friends had helped in constructing their den. Samael had helped dig out the earth while Thomas worked with Zieg on placing the wooden beams within their new home. Oce worked with Aliya and Moon Moon on decorating the inside, turning the hole in the ground into a beautiful home. Ramic had blessed their home with much happiness, and in his words, 'fluff, love, fluff, more fluff, and even more love...oh, and kits. Lots of kits to show your love!'

"That was unexpected."

Oce's words shook Zieg from his memories, and he placed a paw upon her shoulder as they stared out over the fields that only now had become speckled with green as grass, shrubs and trees began to reclaim the barren wastelands. He nodded in agreement. "Though this parched land will need all the nourishment it can get to recover."

The bunny doe's ears wilted, only for Zieg to pull them back up straight.

"Hey!" She swatted at his paw, laughing as he let go of her ear. "You can't just go and touch my ears like that!"

Zieg smirked. "Is it because I know how riled up you get when you have your ears rubbed?"

Oce blushed. "Jerk."

"Your jerk," Zieg countered. "And your jerk has a present for you."

"Oh?" The cream doe looked to her mate with interest.

"Close your eyes…"

Oce did as instructed, though it only increased her agitation as her foot thumped against the floorboards. It felt as if Zeig was purposefully elongating the time before giving her whatever it was he had.

"Zeig…" she said with a warning tone. "Can I open them?"

"Yes, my darling Oce," Her blush deepened with the reverence in which he spoke her name. "You can open you cute little eyes."

Amber eyes opened with a slight glare, to see Zieg snickering. She was about to swat at him, when she saw a crown of cream colored flowers laying in his paws.

"For you," Zieg began, watching as her eyes widened in astonishment. "These flowers are ones that I specifically created to cover this land, as I wanted whoever passed through to know of the beauty that they are based upon."

Zieg gingerly raised the crown over Oce's ears. Her own paws gently touched the flowers, one paw touching the flowers while her metallic paw covered her mouth as tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, Zieg!"

"Here it comes," Zieg chuckled. He let out a grunt as a bunny missile impacted his chest. "Guess you like the gift? They're the first flowers to bloom across this la-"

His words were cut off with a withering kiss of unfathomable proportions. Arms found themselves quickly wrapped around one another, exploring each other's bodies as the kiss finally ended, both mammals panting slightly. "I guess that is a yes?"

"What was my answer to your proposal to me?" Oce countered.

Zieg chuckled, then leaned in for another kiss.

 _~Fin~_


End file.
